The Three Elites
by GraydonGirl
Summary: The Elites of Tree Hill High-Brooke,Rachel&Peyton-have 3 rules:never turn your back on your friends,never back down,and never apologize.When Haley comes to town,Brooke has a little trouble abiding by her own rules,especially when she falls for her.Baley
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I've got my tray in hand and this is the part I was dreading most about coming to a new school. Finding a new group to hang out with. Let me fill you in. Name: Haley James. School: Tree Hill High. Status: new girl. So I already went through the painful 'class meet the new student Haley James' part this morning but now it's lunch. And I know I look like a fool just standing here but I can't help it. Ooh I see an open spot.

So I head to the chair in the cafeteria, but about 10 feet away I realize that's the cheerleaders table. And I definitely don't want to sit there. Trust me, I've seen all the high school drama movies. As soon as I turn around I run into someone and of course just like in the movies my try gets smashed up against me and my 'first day back to school' outfit.

"sorry" the guy mutters and goes back to his every day rituals. I look down at my sweater and see the milk stains. I knew I shouldn't have gotten milk. 

I'm about to head straight for the girls bathroom when I see a napkin held out in front of me. I take the napkin then follow the hand to the warm smile of the stranger trying to help me.

"thank you" I say.

"no problem, some guys can be real jerks. Why don't you sit down" he says and pulls out a chair. I smile and take the seat beside him. "I'm Lucas Scott" he introduces himself.

"Haley-"

"-James" he finishes. Creep. "yeah, I know, I think you're in my math class period one, right?"

I think back to my schedule and low and behold math is period one. "that's right" I finish cleaning off my shirt and I notice Lucas slide half is sandwich over to me.

"turkey on rye." He says. "I know it's no caviar or anything, but it beats nothing"

"no, actually turkey on rye sounds really great right about now" I say taking a bite of his sandwich, god this guy is nice, and pretty cute.

"hey man" another guy sits down. Dark hair, hot body, I think I'm starting to like this school.

"hey. Nathan this is Haley, Haley, this is Nathan, my brother"

"hey" I say quietly he gives me a genuine smile and pulls out his lunch. Which just happens to be something along the lines of a feast. He pulls out two sandwiches, a pre packed pasta salad, a helping of spaghetti, two large drumsticks, a large bottle of water, and two yogurts. I look over at Lucas who only has half a sandwich, a bag of chips and a soda.

"well, it looks like I know who the favourite son is" I mutter and both boys laugh at my lame joke.

"different moms, I guess" Nathan says.

"but I thought you were brothers"

"half" both guys say at once. Well I guess that clears things up. Not.

"you guys are screwed up, you know that?" I ask.

"yeah" they both reply again. That's starting to get creepy.

"you can blame Dan for that" Nathan says. Dan? "our father" he adds in. Must have read my mind.

"oh, okay" I say knowing they probably don't want to go into further detail than that. "so what's with this school like?"

"Tree Hill High? It's alright" Lucas says. "sometimes there's a lot of drama, but other times its just like every other school"

"yeah, because every other school has elites" Nathan mutters. Am I missing something?

"elites? What are elites?" I ask getting a chuckle out of Nathan.

"okay, lets see…" Lucas says craning is neck around looking around the cafeteria. "those" he points discretely. "those are the elites"

I follow his direction and see three girls sitting at a table. "see the girls who look like they're sitting in a spot light with everyone fawning over them?" Lucas asks. They do kind of look like they're sitting in a spot light.

"yeah"

"they are the three elites. They basically run the school and everything in it." What is this Mean Girls? 

"they are the hottest, richest and all around most popular girls in school" Nathan adds.

"and why exactly are they the 'elites'?"

"they're best friends, they don't let anyone in, and they don't let anyone tell them what to do" Lucas starts. "Rachel Gatina, the red head, is queen of party central. There is not a single good party that goes down without her help. She's got a fake I.D. that works basically everywhere."

"the blonde, is Peyton Sawyer" Nathan says. I look over and see the curly blonde haired girl with her leather jacket. Doesn't really seem like the popular type of girl. "she controls the music scene around this area. She works down at Tric, the club around here, she gets what ever band she wants."

"and the brunette?" I ask. The hot brunette might I add.

"Brooke Davis" Nathan and Lucas say at the same time.

"without Brooke Davis, the other two girls are nothing. She's not their leader or anything, it's just she kind of brings them together. She controls the social hierarchy of the school. She says who's popular and who isn't. She decides who's invited to what parties and who's not. Basically she controls your reputation, and no one even knows how she does it." Lucas says.

"and not to mention they get their own off-the-record parking space right in front of the school." Nathan says. "no one dares to step up to them, afraid of what they'll do, because we all know they will do something"

"what do you mean?"

"in grade 10 some guy tried standing up to them…" Lucas started.

"… and a week later he disappeared" Nathan said with a straight face. Too bad I burst out laughing.

"oh, god, you're kidding me right?" I look up to see two straight faces. "oh, god, you're not kidding. Okay, well that just sounds absurd."

"that may be, but that's just the way it is" Nathan says. "okay listen, I got to go see Whitey, but don't forget to tell her about the rules" he says and gets up. "bye Hales"

"bye" I say sweetly. 

"okay, so the rules…"

"I've seen the student hand book" I interrupt him, getting a chuckle out of him.

"no, not those rules. The elite's rules."

"they give rules out to everyone?"

"no, it's just they have 3 rules between them. Rule number 1: never turn your back on your friends, rule number 2: never back down, and rule number 3: never apologize"

"that's a lot of nevers" I say.

"I know, I guess they have a lot of regrets. It's just something they have between each other."

"okay, so if these are the three most popular girls in school, where are their football player boyfriends?"

"oh okay, see they don't have any boyfriends, and it's not because they can't get them, it's more the fact that if they do hey don't have any time to spend with them, and because they don't let people in, emotionally. Well that and, well, rumour is Brooke swings the other way"

"really?" things just got a little more interesting…

"yeah, but don't let them know you think that… piss them off and they turn into some mean bitches"

So it's the end of lunch and the bell just rang, meaning we have all of 5 minutes to get to class.

"so Haley James, what do you have last period?" Lucas asks me.

"well Lucas Scott, it appears I have…" let me pull out my schedule. "chemistry." I say getting a small chuckle out of him. "what? Do you have it too?" cause that would be pretty awesome right about now.

"not me sorry, but uh, have fun in chem. … with the elites."

"great…" I say trying my best not to show my fear. One wrong move with these girls and I could end up being called the 'new girl' for the rest of my high school career.

"oh hey, Mouth!" Lucas calls over a friend I presume.

"hey Luke" the guy I assume who Mouth is. By the way, that's a really weird name. 

"you have chemistry last period right?"

"yeah, just heading there now, why?"

"Mouth, meet Haley, Haley meet Mouth. Haley has chemistry with you, mind taking her?"

"sure thing" I feel like a piece of meat being passed around here.

"great! I'll see you later Haley" Lucas says.

"bye!" I yell. "so… Mouth is it?" what is with that name.

"yeah… don't ask" he says referring to the name.

"don't worry" I follow Mouth to what appears to be the chem. Room and we sit down towards the back. But I notice three seats in the very back row, that no one sits in. Hmm, I wonder who those are for. By the way, in case you didn't catch that, that's sarcasm. The weird thing is, the elites aren't here yet and the bell already rang. 

About 10 minutes into class I hear the door click open and everyone turns around to see who it is.

"ladies, you're late" the teacher comments.

"yeah, we were talking to the principal." Rachel says as she hands him a note while the other two take their seats behind us.

"it's a fake" Mouth whispers to me. "they have a bunch of fake notes to get out of everything." I nod and glance back to see the brunette, Brooke staring at me intently. I quickly turn back around to face the front. She probably wasn't staring at _me_.

"is it true that Brooke is gay?" I whisper to Mouth.

"nah, it's just a rumour" damn. 

"oh… okay"

"why? Looking for a girlfriend?" he asks. Does he know? He must.

"how did you…"

"… just a guess, but I can tell" he smiles. "don't worry, it's not that big of a deal around here." That is actually a load off of my chest.

"good. Thanks" 1 down, the rest of school to go. I turn around again, why? I don't know. Curiosity just gets the better of me. Anyways, I turn around and not only is Brooke staring at me, but now all three of them are staring at me. That is probably the last time I turn around. I mean, that's just intimidating. 

I see Mouth turn around to see what I'm looking at and he turns back around.

"good job, on your first day here you've managed to grab the attention of all three elites. Smooth" he says with sarcasm. Yeah, it's probably not good that they are all staring at me like that. 

For the rest of the class I manage not to turn around again, though I want too, and though I know they are all still staring at me. As soon as the final bell rings I get up and slowly put my stuff away, praying that they'll leave before me and not say anything. Well it doesn't really matter anyways cause I'm heading straight for the tutor centre after this. I've got to add _some _sort of things to my college application. I don't think going to 10 different schools in the last 3 years is much of an accomplishment. So the class is almost empty and I think everything's pretty much clear so I head out the door and just as I do I run into someone, but not just anyone. 

Brooke Davis.

"oh god, sorry" I say bending down to pick up our books. Yes, _our_ books. Better try and get on her good side now. After pausing there for a second, she finally bends down to help me.

"it's fine" she says. I kind of expected her to be a little more bitchy. But she's really not bad. Before I can say anything else I see a pair of converse and a pair of high hells stand next to us. I look up to see the other elites.

"watch where you're going" Rachel says to me on behalf of Brooke.

"Rachel" Brooke scolds her. We stand up and I hand her the books she was carrying. "are you new?" she asks me.

"uh yeah, I'm Haley" I say extending my hand to Brooke. She's about to shake my hand but Peyton steps in front of her and puts her hand down for her.

"what ever, Tracy" Tracy? That's not even close to Haley. I mean at least find something that rhymes with my name.

"it's Haley" I correct her. Oh and that was probably a mistake. I can tell by the surprised looks on her and Rachel's faces.

"uh huh" she says. "look, just watch where you're going next time, _Haley"_ well at least she got my name right, but that may not be a good thing.

"sorry" I say directly to Brooke and Brooke only. I glare at the other two girls and take my leave. I think I just committed social suicide.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

So I'm sitting here in the tutor centre waiting for the school president to come interview me. Apparently they have control over majority of the clubs. And apparently since the tutors of the school have so many chances to cheat they have to make sure they have morals. Which is good, because I have a lot of morals, well not a lot but-

"-hi" someone cuts off my thoughts. But that's okay, because I could look at this girl all day. That's right it's her, Brooke Davis. As soon as she sees me she freezes in her spot and a smirk spreads across her face.

"um, hey"

"what are you doing here?" she asks me. Ooh she's got that whole scratchy voice thing going on. That is so hot.

"I'm just waiting for the school president to show up."

"really?" she asks taking a seat. "and why is that?"

"trying to get a job as a tutor"

"so you're smart…?" she asks in statement form.

"that's what they tell me" I reply. Wow, she's even hotter up close. Control yourself, James.

"and uh… what exactly do you tutor people in?"

"just about everything… 3.9 GPA can get you anywhere"

"3.9… impressive" is she flirting with me? God, please let her be flirting with me.

"so uh, where are bitch and bitchier?" I ask, maybe I shouldn't have called them that. Wait, she's smiling, it can't be that bad.

"hey, watch it, they hear everything" she whispers. 

"oh I didn't realize being mean comes with super hearing" I whisper back making her smile. "so what are you doing here? Are you a tutor or something?"

"actually, no. I'm looking for a tutor"

"oh really? Well if I get the job maybe I can help you" that's right, flirt back.

"no, you don't get it. I'm _looking _for a tutor" yeah, still don't get it. "let me introduce my self. I'm Brooke Davis, school president" ohhhhhh, crap.

"oh… okay… um… wow. I didn't expect you to be…"

"… school president?"

"yeah"

"well it gives me some jurisdiction in the school. So it's not too bad"

"makes sense. So, uh, do you want to do this interview thingy?" I ask, my hands are shaking. For some reason I'm nervous now.

"no need" great, she probably thinks I'm some spaz and doesn't want me to be a tutor. "you seem smart, I mean 3.9 GPA sounds pretty good. You're in"

"really?"

"yeah, why not?" She says as she writes some things down in her agenda and then closes it with one hand. She turns around and looks up at the clock behind the door. "okay, well I wasn't exactly expecting this to go by so quickly."

I glance down at my watch. She's right. I thought this would take like an hour, but it only took like ten minutes. "yeah, same. The bus doesn't even come for another 50 minutes"

"well… I have some extra time… if you want… I could drive you home… I mean if that's okay with you" look who's nervous now.

"are you sure? I mean because I'd only have to wait an hour and I don't want to get in your way" I ramble on.

"Haley, it's fine, really. Come on" she gets up and walks to the door. Well at least she still remembers my name.

We head outside and we see a bunch of guys standing there in their basketball shorts.

"Afternoon boys" Brooke says flirtatiously. All the boys turn around and start cat whistling or doing something stupid. But one of the boys steps out of the crowd.

"Haley!" he calls out surprisingly. Oh wait, it's Lucas.

"oh hey Lucas" 

"Hey Haley, hey Brooke"

"hey Luke, how are you doing?" Brooke asks nicely.

"I'm pretty good. How's Peyton?... and Rachel? And you of course" he adds in quickly.

"um good, good and good" she answers with a small laugh. 

"well Haley it looks like you survived chemistry" he says with a smirk. Shut up Lucas.

"yeah" I reply meekly.

"whats wrong with chemistry?"

"nothing's wro-"

"-Haley here was afraid of the elites" Lucas interrupts. _Shut up Lucas._

"really?" Brooke asks with a smirk as she turns to me.

"yeah, I kind of filled her in about the elites during lunch…"

"oh" Brooke said with a sad smile.

"Lucas, remind me to hit you later" I mutter to him, even though Brooke's standing right in front of me. "so, um how do you guys know each other anyways?" I ask in a desperate change of subject.

"someone's got to cheer on the boys basketball team" Brooke says.

"you're a basketball player?" I ask him.

"co-captain" Brooke answers for him.

"really?" I ask.

"well Brooke would know, she's the head cheerleader" Lucas retaliates.

"really?" I ask again. "well aren't you two just the cutest couple" I say with disgust. They would be such a typical couple. Jock and cheerleader.

Before I know it they both burst out laughing. "no, it's not like that" Lucas says.

"yeah, broody here has a crush on another elite friend of mine"

"ooh, do tell" I say.

"I'm leaving before this gets out of hand!" Lucas says walking away, leaving Brooke and I still laughing.

"alright come on, let's get you out of here tutor girl" nicknames already, I can deal. We walk over to her car which is parked at the front of the lot in her own personal space, just like Nathan said.

"so where do you live?" she asks as she starts up the car.

"um, hold on let me see if I can remember…" shit I really can't remember, oh, no, wait. Here we go. "it's 132 Shining Parkway."

"alright, I think I know where that is"

"so Haley… why are you afraid of the elites?" she asks, taking her view off of the road for a second.

"it's just from what I heard it's kind of intimidating" but I still want to know if you're gay….

"like what?"

"um, the three rules you and your friends have, the fact that you guys control almost everything in the school… and not to mention when I ran into you guys your friends nearly bit my head off. I think they hate me"

"they don't hate you… and those rules are just there for me and my friends"

"mmhmm" I mutter, still fidgeting with my hands. I really want to know if I have a chance with this girl, because well she _is_ beautiful.

"okay, what?" she asks like I have a question.

"nothing"

"I know you want to ask something so you might as well…" well she told me to.

"well it's just… I heard _something_ and it's just been burning in my mind all day…"

"yes, _they_ are real" she says jokingly putting her hand over her chest. I let out a light laugh but carry on with my question.

"well are you… have you…"

"just spit it out Haley"

"are you gay?" there, I said it. As soon as she hears the question she comes to a screeching halt in her car, and it just so happens there's a stop sign there. We jerk forward and she looks over at me.

"uh… um…" maybe I shouldn't have asked it. "sorry, Brooke, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything…"

"who… who told you that?" 

"well Lucas just kind of mentioned a rumour at lunch, and I-I was just… just curious"

"you can't believe everything you hear at school. There are a lot of rumours out there about me and my friends. But we don't take shit from anybody. It's one of our rules for a reason" she says, great now I made her angry.

"right" she starts letting off the break and we continue on to my home. But I have not failed to notice she never truly answered my question.

"why was that particular question bothering you all day?" she asks hesitantly.

"oh, well you know… I mean how often do you find the most popular girl in school to be gay or even bisexual"

"are you're…" she's starting to catch on now.

"not into labels? Why yes, how did you know?" I say over excitedly. 

"so if you're not into labels why ask me if I've labelled my self?"

"because some people don't mind the labels. I do." But if you were to put a label on me it would be bi. Shh.

"well maybe I do too…" she says not looking at me. Did she just admit it? Hard to tell. "look, it's just I hate the fact that people judge on what they know and what they think they know. But what they don't realize is that those are two completely different things. Sometimes I don't like the way things are. Sometimes I just wish people didn't think a certain way"

We pull up to my house and Brooke stops at the curb.

"thanks for the ride Brooke, I really appreciate it"

"sure thing Haley" she says with a straight face. I think I may have ruined my chances with her. I get out of the car and shut the door, but before I leave I turn back around.

"oh and don't worry about your secret, I won't tell anyone."

"what do you mean?" she asks with a small smile, trying to pretend it's real.

"it's usually the people outside the box who don't like the box" I say wisely and walk away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

So everyday now I look forward to one specific class every day, and no, lunch does not count as a class. So I'm sure you can guess which class it is. Yes, chemistry. Lucas, Nathan, Mouth and I have all become pretty good friends, everyday I eat lunch with them and then chemistry I always see Brooke. Every so often I turn around and I see Brooke smiling back at me. And I mean every time. It makes me wonder if she ever looks at anything besides me. So today in chemistry we got our first test back. Well my first test back.

Sweet. 92. I take pride in my work. Yes I realize I am very lame. I turn around to see Brooke and how she did and of course Rachel and Peyton are both glaring at me. I'm starting to get the feeling they don't like me.

"hey, how'd you do?" I ask her. I see her fold her test and put it away in her bag.

"not so great"

"well you know if you need any help I'm always here."

"that'd be-"

"-it's fine, she doesn't need help" Peyton cuts her off. Immediately Brooke stares at her.

"okay, well if Peyton changes her mind, let me know Brooke" I say with a smirk. It's like everything Brooke does either Peyton or Rachel have a say in it. As soon as the bell rings I head out of the class to my locker because I know I have to tutor someone in like 5 minutes. So I get to my locker and I realize I forgot my chem. Book in the chem. Room. So I turn around and head back thinking the only person who would be in there is the teacher.

I go back, but right before I go into the room I hear someone. Or someones. It's Peyton, Rachel and Brooke all talking. And about me.

"Brooke, what are you doing?" I hear Peyton ask.

"nothing, what do you mean?"

"I mean pretending you need help in chemistry to hang out with that Haley girl" Rachel says.

"what's that all about?" Peyton asks. Was she really just faking it?

"I was just trying to be… me" Brooke reasons.

"Brooke do you forget who we are and what we represent?" Peyton asks.

"yes, I know, we rule the school we have to keep up appearances and not give anyone a reason to doubt that we belong on top... But what if that's not who I am?"

"it _is_ who you are"

"no, it isn't, and you know that too. You know who I am, why can't you just accept it?"

"We do" Rachel says. "but everyone else won't."

"you don't know that!"

"Well we don't want to take that risk"

"it's not your risk to take!"

"Brooke, we're your best friends, we've been there for you through everything…"

"and I love you for that, I do but-"

"-but we know what's best for you" Rachel finishes. I hear silence for a few seconds. Please don't tell me Brooke is actually buying this.

"okay…" I hear her whisper. Why does she let them control her like that? "oh hey, I think this is Haley's chemistry text book" Brooke says. Oh shit, I better run.

"how about I drop it off and we go out for some coffee?" Rachel offers.

"Rachel, I can drop off a book, it's not like I'm going to ravage her or anything" run, James, run! So I take off towards the tutor centre before they can spot me. I run into the door and shut it behind me, still out of breath.

"monster?" the guy I'm tutoring asks.

"uh, no. Nathan, can you do me a favour? Just pretend I've been here for the passed 10 minutes, okay?"

"yeah, okay, what ever" Nathan answers. I quickly pull out a book without even paying attention to it and make it look like we're actually working. Within seconds the door opens and I see Brooke enter.

"Hey Haley, you forgot this in class" Brooke says handing me my book.

"oh thanks Brooke!" I say as I suddenly was able to regain my breath. "so hey, if you still want someone to tutor you we could set up something or what ever…"

"um, yeah about that. Peyton and Rachel said they would help me so it's no big deal"

"alright…" crap I really wanted to spend more time with her.

"hey Nathan"

"Hey Brooke. Haley's been in here for the passed 10 minutes" he says stupidly. Oh my god, I could kill this guy right about now. I punch him in the shoulder and try not to face Brooke.

"what?" she asks with a stupid smile.

"nothing, I mean, I was just saying Haley's helping me with my English work, don't tell anyone"

"yeah, sure your secrets safe with me" she says with a smile coming up beside us. "but uh, I don't know how far you're going to get with your biology text book" she says with a smirk. I look down and I realized I pulled out the wrong book.

"ah, so that's why!" Nathan covers for me.

"well I'll catch you later… Bye Haley, bye Nate" she says and closes the door. I turn back to the book and sigh.

"so you like Brooke huh?" is it that obvious.

"shut up" I say pointing to the book and he starts to work. "study your bio"

After tutoring Nathan we met up with Lucas and headed down to his mom's Café. We open the door and the bell goes off signalling someone's arrived. Nathan and Lucas wave to an older woman behind the counter and we take a seat in the booth. It just so happens Rachel, Peyton and Brooke are also grabbing some coffee on the other side of the restaurant.

"so you're mom owns this place?" I ask Lucas.

"yeah, she owns her café and Tric"

"your mom owns the local club around here? Isn't that where you said Peyton works?" I say looking over at Peyton.

"yep" Nathan answers with a smirk as he stares at Lucas, who just glares back.

"am I missing something?" oh wait, didn't Brooke say something before. "oh wait, I remember, Lucas has a crush on Peyton"

"it's not a crush. Guy's don't have crushes" Lucas says as the person who I suspect to be his mother approaches.

"are you guys talking about Luke's crush on Peyton again?" she asks, hearing the tail end of our conversation. Nathan and I can't help but burst out laughing.

"it's not a crush!" Lucas says loudly. Loud enough for the elites to hear us. Nathan and I start laughing again.

"So Lucas, who's your new friend?" Luke's mom asks.

"oh hi, sorry, I'm Haley James" I say shaking her hand.

"I'm Karen"

"it's nice to meet you."

"you too, Haley. So what can I get for you guys?"

"coffee" we all say at the same time.

"coming right up" she says with a smile. She seems sweet.

"so Lucas are you going to say hi to your girlfriend?" I ask.

"shut it" he mumbles back.

"hey what about you?" Nathan asks me. "are you going to say hi to _your_ girlfriend?" crap, Lucas doesn't know yet.

"what?' Luke asks.

"nothing" I reply quickly, a little too quickly.

"Haley has a crush on Brooke"

"aww, isn't that just sweet" he says fakely. But at least that's three people who know about me and don't care.

"does she know?" Luke asks me.

"I've been dropping subtle hints, but I over heard her and her friends talking saying they don't like me or what ever"

"why?"

"cause I'm a girl" I reply. We all look over subtly and we see the three of them looking back at us.

"okay, this is getting ridiculous." Nathan says. "hey girls! Why don't you come join us?" Nathan yells to the elites. Lucas and I both turn to look at him.

"Nathan!" we yell quietly.

"what? You know you wanted to" he says. Before we know it the three girls are over at our table pulling up some chairs. I'm sitting beside Nathan and Lucas is sitting across from us. I notice how Rachel and Brooke quickly pull up chair and Peyton is left standing. She looks at her friends who look at her back and mentally force her to take the seat next to Lucas.

"hey, what's up guys?" Brooke asks.

"nothing, we just saw you lovely ladies checking us out and thought you might like to come join us" Nathan says smugly, but he's right.

"well we could have said the same for you" Brooke replies. "You just beat us to the punch"

"well then I guess it's win-win" I add in, purely staring at Brooke who just stares back with a smile. I don't care what her friends think.

"so what do you ladies have planned for the weekend?" Luke asks. "another raging party?" he says looking at Rachel.

"actually we're taking the weekend off from partying. We have a friend we're going to visit down in Charlotte"

"oh that's cool" Lucas says. "So Peyton, how's Tric doing?"

"it's good, good. Your mom is a really cool boss" awkward line. Yeah, she likes him too. I can tell because around him she seems so much like her normal self. Or maybe this is her normal self and who she is in school is different.

Let's pray it's the latter one.

"so who are you guys visiting down in Charlotte?" Nathan asks.

"my cousin"

"an old friend"

"pet horse" all three girls say at the same time. Can you say 'something's up'?

"well, it's Rachel's cousin, who is an old friend of mine, who has a pet horse" Peyton clarifies even though none of us believe her.

"uh huh" Nathan says, immediately dropping the subject. Our coffee arrives and we have a few more awkward silences but eventually we find our groove into the conversations.

It's getting late now. We've been here for almost and hour and I've got stuff to do at home.

"hey guys, I'm going to get going now" I say getting up. I pull a fiver out of my pocket and place it on the table for the coffee I've had. "it was fun talking with you guys but I've got some stuff to take care of. I'll see you later"

"well hey, how are you getting home?" Brooke asks me before I leave.

"I was just going to walk, it's not that far" it's pretty far, but I don't want to bother anyone.

"uh, yeah it is. Hold on a sec, I'll give you a ride" Brooke says turning around to pay for her coffee too.

"Brooke" Peyton warns her.

"_what_?" Brooke bites back. Peyton looks between Brooke and me, then back to Brooke again.

"you know _what_" she says hinting at me. I can't take this anymore.

"look, Peyton, if you have a problem with me just say it." I say fed up of all of this. Everyone then looks at me like I just robbed a bank.

"what did you just say to me?" Peyton asks, standing up in front of me so that we're eye to eye.

"I know you have a problem with me, so just say it. I prefer people not talk behind my back."

"listen you little-" Peyton starts but is soon cut off. Good thing too.

"-okay, stop." Brooke says stepping in between us, but facing Peyton. "Peyton, sit down. I'm going to take Haley home. I'll talk to you later." She says and we both exit the café. Wow, I totally almost got my ass kicked just now. What a rush.

We get in Brooke's car and she starts heading in the direction of my house.

"look, sorry about that. It's just I know Peyton doesn't like me and neither does Rachel but they don't have to do it all behind my back."

"why do you care so much?"

"… because I don't like people talking behind my back" I say like it's obvious. Didn't I just say that?

"no, I meant why is it such a big deal that my friends don't like you?" I know the answer she's looking for. And I'm going to tell her.

"because… because I like you Brooke, and well I can tell you're close with your friends and all, but I want them to like me."

Before I know it we pull up to my house and Brooke turns off her car and turns to me. "look Haley, like you said, me and my friends are close. And everything I do involves them, that's why it's important for them to like the people who I date. But the thing is, they think that I shouldn't date other girls because we have a-"

"-reputation to live up to. I know I heard" I cut her off. "just think Brooke. What happens if the person _you_ fall in love with in the future, doesn't get along with your friends. What if that person is your soul mate? What are you going to do then?"

"I'm going to follow my friends, because the relationship might not work out, but I know that I will _always _have my friends"

"how do you know that?"

"'cause they're like my family. They know everything about me, every secret, every scratch, every odd aspect about me. They know it all. And I know even though sometimes we don't always agree, I know they will always, _always_ be there for me. And I would never turn my back on them. That's why it's one of the rules."

"okay, well call me when you stop letting your friends think for you, because I wouldn't want a girlfriend who doesn't think for her self anyways" I say angrily and get out of her car. Coward.

I love the rain, there's just something about it. I don't know if it's the after smell it makes or the fact that all the romantic movies use it, but I just love it. I'm sitting on my bed enjoying the pouring rain outside when my cell phone rings.

"hello?"

"hey Hales"

"hey Luke" it's Lucas, if you didn't catch that. "what's up?"

"what did you do to Brooke?"

"me? Nothing" I try to play off innocently.

"then why did she come back to the café, nearly in tears?" oh come on, I barely did anything. Well that's not exactly true. I kind of said she couldn't think for herself, but I didn't think one of the elites would break down in tears.

"I just kind of said some things… is she still there?" maybe I can make things better.

"no, she came back about a half hour ago just to see her friends. But she's gone now and so are Rachel and Peyton." Damn.

"okay, I'll just talk to her tomorrow then. Thanks Luke"

"sure thing. Bye Haley" we both hang up and now I feel guilty. I barely know this girl and she's already got a control on my emotions. I'm just about to let my body fall back on my bed when I hear this tapping sound.

There it is again. Wait, it's getting louder now. I stop to listen to the sound again and this time I here my name. Oh my god, it's probably some creepy stalker. I grab my pillow and now my name's getting louder. I look around and I see a figure at my window. But it's not some creepy stalker. It's Brooke.

I slide open my window and see a girl who looks like someone just dumped a bucket of water on her.

"Brooke?"

"hi, mind if I come in?" she says already pulling her self into my room. I try to help her but fail miserably as we both come tumbling down. She tries to laugh it off but it doesn't work. She gets up from on top of me and pulls me up with her.

"Brooke what are you doing here? And why didn't you use the door?"

"I tried knocking at the door, but you didn't answer" It was probably when I was on the phone with Lucas.

"okay, so then why are you here?"

"honestly, I'm not quite sure. I… uh. I wanted to talk to you about what you said before"

"look, about that. I probably shouldn't have gotten all angry at you…"

"no you should have, but you have to know something. I can't just ignore my friends"

"can't or won't?"

"both" she replies honestly. "it's just a little complicated"

"what's so compl-" I'm interrupted by a knock at my door. My front door. "hold on"

I walk out of my room and Brooke follows me downstairs still following. "look Haley, I-I like you too" she stutters out. I freeze in front of the door when I hear these words. "but I just can't. My friends are just looking out for me"

I roll my eyes. This is just like the conversation we had an hour ago. I look through the peep hole and see something I didn't expect to see.

"do uh… do Rachel and Peyton know you're here?"

"are you crazy? They'd probably have a heart attack."

"yeah… thought so. Um, you might want to hide in the closet then"

"they're here!?" Brooke whispers loudly as she looks through the peep hole herself.

"okay, just calm down, I'll handle it. Just … hide in the closet" I say pushing her in.

"but-"

"-shh" I say shutting the door. As soon as I close the closet door I open my front door. "sorry, I'm not looking to buy any cookies" I say sweetly and try to close the door, but before I do a foot stops me. I open it back up and they don't look happy.

"we need to talk"

"no thanks" I say sweetly again and try to shut the door. And once again, there is a foot in my way. Door opens and they're still there.

"look, I have surprisingly strong legs and we have no where to be for the rest of the night" Peyton says and pushes her way into my house with Rachel behind her.

"please, come in" I say sarcastically. I shut the door and turn around to see Rachel and Peyton sitting on my couch already. "does Brooke know you're here?" I already know the answer I just wanted to watch them squirm.

"nope" Rachel say with no guilt or regret. So much for squirming.

"so what can I help you with?"

"not us. Brooke"

"what about her?"

"stay away from her" Rachel says slowly thinking that will help.

"you can't tell me who I can and can't like" I reply.

"no we can't, but if you know what's good for you you'll stay away from her"

"why? Why can't I like Brooke? Is it because I'm short? Because I'm a tutor? Because I'm friends with Lucas and Nathan? Why? Because I certainly know it's not because I'm a _girl_. Cause if you have a problem with me dating girls then you must have a problem with Brooke liking girls too."

"look, date who ever you want, girl, boy, dog, we don't care" dog? Wtf? "just stay away from Brooke. We need people to think that we belong at the top. If people think for one second we aren't who they think we are, then everything we worked for goes down the drain." Oh god, I can tell Brooke's getting angry right now. I would too if I were her. I'm just praying she doesn't burst out of the closet.

"well why don't you _work_ to let Brooke be herself"

"Haley, we know you're _different_, and into girls or what ever, but have you ever had someone hate you for doing something you shouldn't have done, or doing something that is considered socially unacceptable?" Peyton asks me.

"of course, I'm bisexual. There is always someone who will hate me for it" god, I hate labels.

"Exactly" Rachel replies. "people consider us the ideal high school student, just with a little more power." I think 'little' is an understatement.

"we all have those times in our life when we do something and someone doesn't like us for it. Something as big as this is bound to attract more than one person to the 'hate' group. That's why we don't want Brooke's secret getting out. If people find out and hate her, it's going to kill her. And we're not just about to stand around and let her get hurt." Peyton says.

"but you can't hide who she is! What are you going to do in the future when Brooke gets older and gets a real job? Are you going to follow her around?"

"once we get out of high school is a different story. All we need to do is hide it until then."

"you don't get it do you? Keeping her from being who she wants to be _is _hurting her!" I practically yell.

"look Haley, just stay out of our way and everything will be fine" Peyton says.

"no, I won't stay out of this! Like it or not I'm in it already."

"Haley, if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out if it"

"what about Brooke?"

"what about her?" Rachel asks.

"what do you think she would say if she knew about this?" I ask hypothetically even though I know she's standing behind that door. Rachel and Peyton get up to go to the front door, but stop when I ask them the question.

"I don't know" Peyton answers. "but as her friends it's our job to do this"

"why? Why make it your job?"

"because she's like our sister, we stick together, and we never turn-"

"-your backs on each other. Yeah, yeah. I just want to let you know, I'm not letting this go. I will not just let her stand in fear of who she is"

"neither will we" Rachel says and shuts the door behind them. As soon as that door I closed Brooke opens the closet door. She doesn't say a word, and there's no tears in her eyes but no emotion on her face. She takes a step toward me and all she does is give me a hug. So when she wrapped her arms around my shoulders I wrapped mine around her body. Sometimes people just need a hug.

It's a small gesture that lets people know that they have someone there for them. And I'm going to be there for Brooke.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As I hug Brooke I notice she is still wet from the rain. I pull back to get a look at her and she's shivering, she looks a little pale.

"Shit Brooke, you must be freezing!" I say as I pull her up the stairs. She's been standing in the drafty closet for like 20 minutes now, still soaking wet. She's going to get hypothermia. "take off your clothes" I say once we get into my room. Her teeth are chattering and I notice she slowly pulls off her shirt, but struggles. I grab a sweater from my closet I toss it on my bed and help her pull off her shirt so that she's only left in a bra. Her shaky hands go for her pants and I help her with that too, leaving her half naked. I give her the sweater and grab some flannel pyjama pants from my dresser. I get her in the dry clothes as soon as possible and grab the blanket from the end of my bed. I throw it around her and rub my hands up and down her arms trying to warm her up.

"are you okay?" cause she's still not speaking. She gives me a slight nod and I sit her down on the bed beside me. "sorry, I completely forgot that your clothes were still wet." She still doesn't say anything.

"look, I'm going to go throw your clothes in the drier and get you something hot to drink, okay? I'll be back in like 5 minutes" she gives me another nod and I notice the shivering is starting to go away. I pick up her clothes and run down the stairs. I quickly threw her clothes in the drier and went to make her some hot chocolate. Just as I finished pouring the drink I turn around to see Brooke standing there in my sweater and pyjama pants.

"hey, I was just coming up to give this to you" I say handing her the hot beverage. She smiles at me and takes the drink.

"thanks" she says with her raspy voice that makes me go weak in the knees.

"Haley, can I ask you something?"

"mm?"

"what you said before, about just sticking with me did you mean it?"

"of course I did"

"why?"

"why? Because Brooke…no one deserves to feel like they can't be themselves"

"…even me?" she whispers. And it kills me that she even thinks that.

"_especially _you now it's my turn to ask her a question "what are you going to do with your friends now? I mean you could follow them or break away, but I know you love them"

"yeah… I'm not really sure" Before we know it Brooke's phone starts ringing. She looks at the screen and turns off her phone. It's obvious it's one of her friends.

"when you… admitted who you were to everyone, did you have friends?" what kind of question is that? I think I feel a little hurt. And she must see it in my face because she is quick to retract. "oh, no. I meant did you have friends that told not to come out or what ever?"

"um okay, well… at first I told my friends and they supported me when I went public with that. After that, every time I went to a new school it just kind of came out"

"so it's just me who has screwed up friends huh?" she concludes.

"Brooke, I'm not going to tell you what to do or how to do it, but that doesn't mean you should let your friends either. This is your decision"

"I know, I know. I just think I need some time to think about it."

"okay, well until then, why don't we just chill out, and relax" I say as we move to the couch and I turn on the TV. We flip to a random movie and get settled into the couch. Brooke decides to get more comfortable and spreads her body out amongst the couch, laying her head down on my lap. I stroke her hair lightly as I let my head rest on my hand on the arm of the couch. I could get use to this.

I wake up to the smell of coffee and I thank god I set the coffee maker to a timer. I open my eyes and the first thing I see is an empty couch.

"Brooke?" maybe she's upstairs. I look over at the coffee table, and of course there's a note. It's one of the rules when you leave in the middle of the night/early morning: always leave a note. This rule applies to everyone.

_Haley,_

_Went home right after you fell asleep. Thank you for everything._

_BD_

I wipe my eyes of the sleep and pour myself a cup of coffee. I go upstairs to get dressed and within 20 minutes I'm out the front door and on my way to school.

I get to school and the first people I see just happen to be a couple buddies of mine.

"hey boys" I say walking up in between them and linking both my arms through one of theirs.

"hey Haley" they say together. I forgot they have that whole weird half brother thing.

"you've got to stop doing that" I say shaking my head.

"so did you clear things up with Brooke?" Lucas asks.

"sort of"

"did you sleep with her?" Nathan asks. What a pervert. I disconnect my arm from his and push him and his dirty smirk away.

"no! why would you say that?"

"cause she caught me this morning and told me to give you these" he says pulling my sweater and pants out of his bag. He better wipe that smirk off of his face. I know what he's thinking. Mostly because it was my dream last night. Hehe.

"why didn't she just give them to me herself?" I ask staring down at my clothes.

"cause she called in sick today"

"oh great, that'll give Peyton and Rachel a chance to 'talk' to me today" I say sarcastically.

"um, no actually when one of them takes a sick day they all take a sick day" Lucas says.

"why?" I ask, the two boys just shrug in response.

For the entire morning I couldn't stop thinking about Brooke. It was probably me who made her sick with the whole soaking clothes thing. But I wonder if she's talked to her friends yet. Or maybe she's not sick at all. Maybe she's just trying to avoid everything.

So at lunch I decided to be the stealth person I am and created a plan. I told my chemistry teacher that I wasn't feeling well and was going home early, so that he would give me the homework and I could skip last period. I know, it's not really stealth, but just go along with it.

I find Lucas and Nathan at the usual lunch table eating their, well, lunch.

"hey do you guys know where Brooke lives?" I ask.

"yeah sure, she's had a couple of parties over there. It's uh 8973 Ogden Avenue"

"okay, great, thanks!" I say and turn around to leave.

"hold on" damn, I knew it was too easy. I turn back around to see him staring at me intently. "why exactly do you need her address?"

"well see dad, it's just I really like her and she likes me back, and golly gee I just can't stand not to be around her" I say like some ditsy girl from the 50s.

"ha ha very funny" he replies sarcastically, while Nathan is actually laughing.

"hey, I thought it was pretty funny" Nathan says.

"thank you, now I'm off!"

"wait" I turn around again and I have a feeling I'm not going to get anywhere. "call us if you need anything" he says with a smile. These guys are cool.

"thank you" I say giving both of them a kiss on the cheek and I _finally _leave. I'm on my way over to Brooke's house, walking of course, when I decide to make a pit stop. I take a step into the restaurant and the familiar bell attached the door sounds.

I walk up to the counter in a bit of a hurry and see Luke's mom there.

"Hi Karen, remember me?"

"sure, it's Haley right?" she asks.

"yeah, I was hoping to get a cup of your finest chicken noodle soup"

"sure thing, coming right up" she puts the order into the chef in the back room, through the open window. She turns back around and smiles up at me. "so shouldn't you be in school?"

"I'm on lunch actually" I say. I'm not technically lying. "just bringing a sick friend some soup"

"oh, well isn't that nice of you."

"yeah, well it was kind of my fault she was sick in the first place" The chef from the kitchen hands the soup to Karen in a 'to-go' container and she hands it to me. I quickly pay for it and I'm out the door.

I start walking down the streets and I look around at all the houses and they're all pretty big, especially compared to my home. And of course, with no surprise Brooke's house is the biggest of them all. Well it's not all _that_ big, but it's pretty damn big. I ring her door bell a couple of times and I wait for her to answer the door.

I'm expecting her to come down in some sort of embarrassing pyjamas with a red nose and a box of tissues under her arm, but no. Actually it's not even her who answers the door. It's one of her maids.

"can I help you?" she asks politely.

"Is Brooke home?"

"I'm afraid she's fallen ill. Maybe you could come back another time"

"I'm a friend of hers, I think she'll want to see me" I say. God, I hope she still wants to see me. She looks me up and down and decides to let me in.

"up the stairs, to your left and it's the first door on your right" she instructs me. I thank her and make my way up the lovely stairs and passed the priceless works of art and to a pure white door. Should I knock, or should I just open the door? I mean, she could be changing, well actually, that's probably a good thing. No, stop that Haley. I see the door is open a crack so I decide to do the 'knock and open' at the same time.

"Brooke?" I ask.

"Haley?" I see her lying on her king sized be watching the plasma screen tv in the corner of her room. Can you say spoiled?

"hey, buddy" I say with a smile.

"what are you doing here?" she asks with a sniffle. She gets up and walks over to greet me. At least she's in fuzzy pink pyjamas. And is that a box of tissues I see by her bedside. Right on the money.

"I heard you were sick today and well I kind of figured it was because you were drenched in the rain when you came to my bedroom window, so I um, brought you some chicken noodle soup from Karen's"

"Aww, thank you!" Brooke says giving me a light hug. Then we hear something, it's a car door shut. Brooke walks to her window and looks out. "uh… okay, um want to do me a favour?"

"depends…"

"ok great!" she says thinking I said yes. She's pushing me though, where am I going? "okay, so Rachel and Peyton are here and so now it's your turn to hide in the closet!" she says excitedly. "don't be poppin' out of here or anything" she says and shoves me into her closet. I'm about to protest when I hear two new voices in the room.

"hey Brookie! We brought you something" Rachel says as she comes in and sits down on the bed beside Brooke.

"is it a cute girl, possibly Haley James?" she asks.

"funny" Peyton says sarcastically. "chicken noodle soup… from Karen's" oh they had the same idea I did.

"thanks guys. So is that it?" she asks, practically shoving them out the door like she did me into the closet.

"hold on, we just wanted to let you know we're heading down to Charlotte early" Peyton says.

"oh, like how early?" Brooke asks.

"like… now"

"but I'm not ready!" Brooke says running back into her room to get a bag. "I mean I have to shower and pack, and do my make up and you guys should have given me a heads up or something! Wait, this isn't one of those fire safety drills is it? Because I'm going to die in the fire anyways, might as well let me look good"

"Brooke… no, um look, we heard you were sick this morning so maybe it's best if only Peyton and I go, I mean we wouldn't want to get little Alex sick right? And now we can spend an extra day with him" Rachel says.

"oh…" Brooke says in a disappointed tone. "you're right"

"Brooke, we know you want to go but it's so easy for Alex to get sick, he's only a-"

"-I know… I know." Brooke cut them off. Suspicious! "why don't you guys just get of here before I lock myself in your trunk"

"alright, we'll just leave this soup here…" oh crap, they saw the soup I dropped off. Brooke was supposed to hide that. "… beside your other soup?" they caught on.

"other soup?" Brooke tries to play dumb.

"who else brought you soup?" Rachel asks. Oh my god, please tell me Brooke's a good liar.

"oh uh, I called Lucas this morning asking him to bring some of his mom's soup…" okay maybe they'll believe it. It's believable… right?

"Haley brought it by didn't she?" Peyton asks. Damn her!

"what? No!" Brooke freaks out. Oh shit. They're coming towards the closet. Run Haley, run! Run where? I'm in a freakin closet. Oh shit.

The doors swing open and there standing in front of me are two very pissed off girls.

"you, get out!" Rachel says pointing to the door.

"no, guys stop…" Brooke tries to reason. "she was just being nice and brought my over some soup. It's not like we were having sex or something" she tries getting a laugh out of them.

"Brooke, that's not funny" Peyton says. This girl is too serious.

"do we have to give you the same speech we gave Haley?" Rachel asks.

"no need, I already heard it" Brooke says, receiving funny looks from both girls. Here we go. "I was in the closet when you two were over at Haley's. Which by the way, so not cool."

"…we were looking out for you" Peyton tries to argue.

"no, Haley's right, you guys. Things need to change, because I'm tired of changing for everyone else"

"We don't know Brooke…" Rachel says.

"that's fine, because _I_ do. I just… I don't want to hide anymore"

"okay, look, we'll take the long weekend to think about it, and when Monday comes around… we'll see" Peyton says. It's like they're her parents.

"deal?" Rachel asks.

"fine" Brooke has no other choice but to agree. "say hi to Alex for me"

Peyton and Rachel both look at me. Neither smiling or frowning which is a step up from the glares.

"alright we will" Rachel says.

"try not to get into too much trouble without us" Peyton says. "Haley can we talk to you?" me? I nod and follow them just outside Brooke's bedroom door. The close the door and are about to speak when they realize Brooke's on the other side listening. They pull me a few feet down the hall and start whispering to me.

"look, this is the first time in a long time we're leaving Brooke alone for the weekend. And well, we know she doesn't like to be left alone. So uh… could you… spend some time with her?" Peyton asks.

"and by 'some' we mean all weekend" Rachel adds.

"are you serious? You've been threatening me to stay away from her now you want me to handcuff myself to her?"

"don't mention handcuffs around Brooke" Peyton warns. I can only smirk at the dirty thoughts that run through my mind.

"we'll be back Sunday night, until then don't do anything stupid, because we _will_ find out" Rachel threatens again. I swear these girls could be the mob bosses of Tree Hill High.

"alright you got it" I say with a smile. They give me one last glare and head down the stairs and out the door. I walk back over to Brooke's bedroom and open the door. Not knowing she was standing behind the door still trying to listen in, the door smacks her in the side of the face.

"oh, god, sorry!" I say cupping her face.

"uh, it's fine" she says rubbing her cheek. "what did they say?"

"nothing really. Do you want to hang out this weekend?"

"ohhh, they asked you to protect me during the weekend since they're gone" Brooke's smarter than she looks. It's not just all hot body.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I say playing dumb blonde again.

"uh huh" she says in a disbelieving manner. She sits down on her bed and leans against the head board. She pats the space beside her and I take a seat.

"promise me if I fall asleep it'll be you I wake up to, not some note" I say jokingly.

"about that... I didn't want Peyton and Rachel finding out"

"its fine, just don't let it happen again" I say playfully.

"don't worry, next time I fall asleep with you I'll stay the whole night. I don't think I would be able to leave anyways." Aww, okay that was really sweet.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

So we've been sitting here for a few hours now, schools been out for a while. We've managed to gather all of the candy in Brooke's house, which is surprisingly a lot. We're just sitting in her room watching movies and I'm happy. We don't have to worry about her friends finding out or any school work because it's the weekend. We're just spending time being happy.

"okay, another one" she tells me. I'm still sitting with my back against her head board but she's lying on her stomach with her feet beside me, slightly turned on her side. I've been trying to throw the skittles into her mouth for 20 minutes now. She still hasn't caught one.

I throw another skittle and it bounces off of her nose. "no fair! Again!" I get this idea and grab 4 skittles into my hand I toss them in the direction of her face and they all bounce off. I start laughing at her surprised face.

"4 skittles and not one of them go in. You're really terrible at this game" I tease her. She gets mock angry and picks up one of the skittles off of the bed and throws it at me. I show off my skills and catch it in my mouth.

"I hate you" she says.

"Ah, no you don't" I say with a smirk as I lay down on my stomach beside her.

"you're right" she admits and smiles at me. "so uh, what do you want for dinner?"

"what ever" I say.

"okaaay." She says as she sits up. "if you could have anything you want for dinner what would it be?"

"anything?" I ask back, she nods. "hm okay, well it would have to be. Banana pancakes in the form of a smiley face, with chocolate sauce as hair, bacon as the mouth, chocolate chips as the eyes, a strawberry as the nose, two half slices of toast as the ears with a circle of marshmallows around the pancake, with another circle of M&M's around the marshmallows." I say thinking of the most outrageous thing I can think of.

"okay" she says picking up the phone on her bedside table.

"wait, what?"

"hey Leo" she says into the phone. "we have a special order for dinner" she says handing the phone over to me. "Haley, do you mind saying everything again, I kind of missed everything after banana pancakes" is she serious? She holds the phone slightly closer to me trying to get the hint.

I think I'm going to like spending time with Brooke.

About 20 minutes later Brooke drags me down stairs for dinner. We walk down the stairs, through the very large foyer, passed the living room, passed the office, passed the second living room, and passed the dining room, which I find kind of weird.

"uh, Brooke, aren't we eating in the dining room?" makes sense wouldn't it?

"no, we've got something else set up" she says, she still has a firm grip on my hand, not wanting to let it go. And I'm all for that. So where was I? ah yes, we walk passed the dining room and into the kitchen. Now this isn't really a normal kitchen, it looks more like the kitchen to a restaurant.

"ah, good evening ladies" what appears to be the chef, says.

"hey Leo" Brooke says casually. We take a seat at a small table which is far cozier than her huge dining room table that could probably fit 10 people.

"I take it Rachel and Peyton will not be joining you tonight?"

"no they went out of town" Brooke says. "this is my new friend, Haley James"

"nice to meet you Miss. James, I'm Leonardo, Miss Davis' chef."

"Leo, how many times do I have to tell you, first names only" she says with a smile. It's obvious she's close with him. "he's known the family for years and still refuses to call me by my first name" Brooke says to me.

"that's because you deserve to be treated with respect Miss. Davis" it makes me wonder if he knows about Brooke's secret.

"yeah, yeah" Brooke waves off. He brings us over our food and it's exactly what I said it is. Everything down to the tee.

"so Leonardo, you've known Brooke for a long time huh?"

"15 years almost" he says with a smile.

"really? So what was Brooke like when she was younger?" I ask and Brooke drops the M&M she was trying to put into her mouth, making me laugh.

"this girl here? Well let's see…"

"careful Leo… my family controls your employment" she warns with a smirk.

"when Brooke was little she would always ask me to pack two pudding cups in her lunch. One for her, and one for Charlie"

"imaginary friend?" I ask Brooke just covers her eyes afraid of my reaction.

"imaginary pet elephant" Leo laughs out and so do I.

"elephant?" I ask Brooke.

"it seemed like a good idea at the time!"

"mmhmm." I reply. "what else?"

"okay… her favourite board game was the game of life because she would always try to adopt as many kids as she could – she loved having a huge family, she would spend every weekend down at the carnival during the summer riding the Ferris wheel over and over again, and not to mention she's had a crush on me since she was 7 years old" he finished with a smirk.

"I have not!" she yells trying to hold in her smile.

"hey, I believe it. Leo here's a looker" I say sending him a wink. "okay, so has Brooke ever brought home any of her boyfriends to meet the fam?"

"uh… no, my parents aren't really home that often" she says sadly. Sore spot. I shouldn't have brought that up, now I just feel stupid.

"actually, besides Ms. Sawyer and Ms. Gatina, you're the first person Brooke's brought over in a long time"

"really?"

"well, excluding her parties and all" I'm the only other person to get into this place besides Rachel and Peyton? That's kind of odd.

"okay, well I think that's enough story time for one night. Thanks for dinner Leo" Brooke says getting up and motioning me to follow her.

"thank you, Leo. Dinner was delicious"

"anything for a friend of Miss. Davis" he says with a smile and takes our plates away.

We're walking back through the house but when we get to the foyer Brooke stops.

"hey, want to go for a walk?"

"aren't you sick?" I ask.

"20 minutes outside won't kill me"

"if you say so." We head out the door and start walking down the street, not heading in any particular direction. "so Leo's great" I comment.

"isn't he? He's always been a great friend" she says smiling to herself.

"does… does he know about… you know?"

"well I've never told him but I'm sure he's caught on by now. He knows me, like Rachel and Peyton know me"

"it shows" I say with a smirk. "so is it true? What Leo said"

"okay, I might have had a crush on him in 2nd grade, but I realized I was out of his league by 4th." She says jokingly and I laugh out loud.

"I meant about me being one of the few people to come over to your house"

"uh… yeah, I guess"

"you guess?"

"yeah, okay, it's only you, Rachel and Peyton who have seen the inside of my bedroom."

"so why me?"

"well you brought me soup, I couldn't exactly slam the door in your face" she says jokingly.

"no, really"

"I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that you know what I'm going through, or maybe it's the fact that Peyton and Rachel think I shouldn't like you… or maybe it's even the fact that I like you a lot more than I _probably_ should" I smile back at her, I don't know any other way to show her how much I like her… well I do, but not yet.

"how did you become so close with Rachel and Peyton anyways? You know they are so over-protective"

"I know, but they're just looking out for me. We all became pretty good friends in elementary school." She answers me.

"yeah, but _how _did you guys get so close. I mean, it's like they're your parents"

"we've just been through a lot together, and when our parents weren't there for us, we were there for each other"

"been through a lot? Like what?"

"just stuff"

"you're not going to tell me, are you?" I conclude.

"nope" she replies quickly.

"yeah, didn't think so… well when you want to talk, I'm here"

"good" she says as we both continue walking. "so listen, remember how Leo mentioned something about the carnival?"

"yeah, sure"

"well, it's open tomorrow and I was just wondering if you wanted to go with me…"

"Brooke Davis are you propositioning me?"

"why yes, yes I am Haley James"

"well I'm always up for a little cotton candy and men on stilts trying to look down women's shirts."

"so that's a yes?"

"that's an absolutely" I reply.

"great, Leo will be relieved he won't have to come"

We make it back to Brooke's house and shut the door quietly. Most of the lights are off, I assume Brooke's staff went to sleep.

"hey Brooke, maybe I should get going, it's getting late" I whisper. But she just grabs my hand and starts pulling me upstairs.

"stay the night" she whispers and that's all I have to hear. I give a silent nod and let her drag me to her room. We get inside and she shuts the door behind us. The lights are off and everything is still silent. I'm too afraid to say anything. I can see the outline of her body get closer to mine and my breaths start getting shorter. What is she doing?

"Haley I have to tell you something" she whispers, only inches from my face. "…I-I really like you"

"I really like you too" I whisper back just as softly.

"I've never… I've never kissed another girl" I give the smallest smile possible. It probably doesn't even deserve to be called a smile, just the right side of my lips curving up. Her hands manage to find mine in the dark and she pulls me slightly towards the bed. She takes a seat and I remain standing in front of her. I'm staring into her eyes, and even though it's dark I know they're staring back into mine.

I'm so close I can feel her breath on my cheek as I lightly let my hands rest on the top of her neck, where it meets her head. Her hands fall to my waist, barely touching anything, afraid of what I might do.

I take in her scent, trying to memorize this very moment as I slowly lean down and finally my lips meet hers. I can feel her grip on my waist tighten, not wanting to let me go. I know this because I feel the exact same way. Her lips moving slightly with mine and she has the lightest touch ever, probably thinking I'm going to break at any second. I press down harder letting her know I'm not about to shatter to pieces.

She pulls back, a little too soon for my liking and sits back on the bed making space for me. In the moonlight I can see her biting her lower lip in insecurity and let me tell you it's the sexiest thing I have ever seen in my life. I crawl into the bed beside her slowly. I move closer to her as she pulls the covers over our bodies and puts her hand on my side. I push back a few strands of hair behind her ear and leave my hand there for a while longer.

I lean up again for another light peck and she smiles down at me.

"promise you'll be here when I wake up?" I whisper softly.

"I promise" she confirms. "…promise you won't hurt me?"

"…I promise" I whisper back. There's no way I can hurt this girl now.

**So there it is, the first kiss. Did you like my oh so tasteful kiss scene? lol**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I wake up to the sunlight shining on my eyes. God, I always hate when that happens. I open my eyes and look over at the curtain, yeah, they're open. I see the bed side table and notice it's almost 10:30 am. I notice something too. There's no note on the table, that's a good sign. I move slightly and feel a hand wrapped around my stomach from behind. I smile because I already know who it is. I turn my body around so that I'm facing her now. She's still sleeping and she just looks adorable.

My head is slightly below her chin so I lean up and kiss her quickly and lightly on the lips. I see her crinkle her nose in her sleep and I think my heart just melted. Oh, I so have to do that again. So I lean up and give her another quick peck and this time she brushes her hand along her mouth thinking something's tickling her. I pause for a second and she's still asleep.

This time I lean up and press my lips down on to hers a little longer and before I know it she's starting to wake up and kissing me back.

"mmm" I hear Brooke moan right before she opens her eyes. "well good morning" oh god, her voice is extra scratchy in the morning. It's a good thing I'm lying down because her voice would make my knees go weak.

"yes, it is"

All of a sudden there's a knock at the door and in comes Leo holding a tray of food in my hands. I quickly sit up trying to cover the blanket over my body. I don't know why exactly, because I'm still wearing clothes, but it's just a reflex. I look over at Brooke who is slumped in her bed, frozen in fear.

As soon as Leo sees us he quickly turns around exits the door without a word, still leaving Brooke and I in shock.

"uhh…" I mutter, not actually sure what to say. "is he going to be okay?"

"um… yeah." She replies, not too sure. "I just… wasn't expecting him to just come in like that."

"well that makes the two of us" I say with my body relaxing slightly. "he's not going to tell your parents is he?"

"no… he wouldn't do that" she says more sure of her answer this time. "come on" she says nudging me out of bed and out the door. As soon as we step outside we see Leo still standing there with breakfast in his hands.

"good morning ladies" he says with a smile, as if nothing ever happened.

"morning Leo" we say together. We totally didn't mean to do that.

"alright, come on, back in bed, I made you ladies breakfast" he says with a smile, motioning for us to go back to her room. We get back in there and take a seat on the bed as he puts the tray down between us. Two plates of the same thing we had for dinner last night, with a little bit of orange juice on the side.

"I figured why mess with a good thing" he says.

"smart man" I comment taking a bite out of my food. He gives us a couple of napkins and leaves us to eat. "so… last night" I start off. Let's just hope she doesn't think it's a mistake. I glance over at her and she's got this small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

"what about it?" she asks me. She is so cute.

"just… it was a nice… _walk_" I say with my own smirk, not even hinting towards our kiss.

"it was a _very_ nice walk" she adds.

After we finished breakfast another one of Brooke's maids came and took the tray away leaving us alone again.

"so listen, I'm going to head home for a bit and take care of some things" I tell her and I see the disappointment in her eyes.

"okay…"

"but don't think I forgot about the carnival" I say brightening her face a little. "you and me say, 7:00 o'clock?"

"I'll be at your door at 6:59" she tells me. I give her a little nod and walk out her bedroom door, but then I remember I forgot something. I quickly skip back into the room and give her a kiss on the cheek and then head out the door. Now I feel better.

As soon as I get home I turn on some music on the stereo and start tidying up the living room. I get one big garbage bag and bring it around with me as I pick up some of the trash. I bring any glasses or plate I have from around the house and put them into the dish washer. I start it up and leave it alone as it is. I get my laundry and bring it down stairs to start a load. Once I'm done cleaning the living room I move to my bedroom and put everything back in it's place. I make my bed and organize my books. As soon as things are clean I bring out the vacuum cleaner.

This is all part of my weekly rituals. Part of the agreement I had with my parents was I keep the house clean, and make sure the cops don't need to stop by. And they pay the bills while they continuously honey moon from state to state.

Once I am finally finished cleaning up I take a quick shower and try to get ready for my… _meeting_ with Brooke. I wouldn't call it a date. Yet.

So here I am, standing in my towel, staring at my closet, waiting for something to jump out at me. But nothing does and I go through everything I have, everything just seems old and worn before, which of course it is.

So now I stand here completely out of my mind and freaking out. What am I going to wear when I see Brooke? It has to be hot, but not slutty and cute, but something that makes me look older. What the hell do you wear to a carnival anyways? Oh god, I need help. I grab my cell phone and immediately start dialling.

"hello?"

"come over to my house right now. 132 Shining Parkway. It's an emergency" I say and hang up.

Exactly 7 minutes later I hear a loud knocking at my door. Then I hear my door open without me answer it. Just come right in why don't you.

"Haley!?" I hear Lucas yell through the house. "Haley!" he yells again.

"upstairs!" I call from my room. I hear him start running up the stairs and into my room. He stands there, completely out of breath and holding a baseball bat in his arms.

"what's going on?! What's the emergency?!" he says look around frantically, ready to beat down a burglar.

"I need your help picking out an outfit" I sat calmly. He looks at me, still holding the bat in place. Maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'emergency'.

"an outfit? Haley, you said it was an emergency!" yeah, definitely shouldn't have used the word 'emergency'.

"okay, I'm sorry. It's just I don't know what to wear!"

"what you're wearing seems fine to me" he says like the guy he is. I look down and realize I'm still in my towel.

"shut up." I say making him chuckle. "Luke, I'm serious"

"what is this for anyways?" he asks, taking a seat on my bed, next to the entire contents of my closet.

"I'm going down to the carnival with Brooke" I say turning my back to him so he can't see the huge smile I'm wearing.

"really?" oh god, I know he's smirking. He gets up and tries to stand in front of me but I turn again so that he can't see my smile. He grabs a hold of me and makes me look at him. "you kissed her!" he yells accusingly.

"no! okay, maybe… okay yes!" I finally give in. I feel so weak. "I just I want to look good for her tonight and I look at my clothes and I feel like I've worn everything before."

"that's cause you have"

"you know what I mean Luke"

"yeah, I do, but Haley you're forgetting one important thing"

"what?"

"you've been here what? A few days? a week? Brooke hasn't even seen all of your clothes yet" he's right!

"holy crap, Lucas you're a genius!" I yell.

"I know… but can you tell that to Peyton?"

"I knew you had a crush on her!" that's so cute.

"it's not a crush" he debates me.

"what ever. Get out. I have to get ready" I say pushing him out my bedroom door. "you can exit the way you came in"

"alright, I'm going."

"thanks for your help, Lucas" I say to him as he descends down the stairs.

"that's what friends are for!" he yells back. I go back into my room and look at my wardrobe again. This just got a whole lot easier.

It's about 5 minutes to 7:00pm, meaning Brooke will be here in 4 minutes. I'm pacing around in my room and I've got everything set. All my stuff is in my purse and the stove is off. Which isn't weird because I never use the stove. But anyways, my room is clean the house is clean. And oh my god one of my pillows is out of place. I put it back, but then I wonder if it looked better in the other place. What would Brooke like?

Why am I even asking that? It's not like she's going to pick me up from my bedroom window… again.

Okay, there's the door bell! She's here. Move your ass, James. I quickly run out of my room and basically gallop down the stairs and I'm just about to reach the door when I trip over my own feet. Thank god the door is still closed. I get up, fix myself, pretend like I'm not hurt and open the door.

She looks even better than this morning. Given now she's not in her pyjamas.

"hey" I say stepping outside onto my porch with her.

"hey" she says in her scratchy voice. It's like she knows it's my weakness. Like kryptonite to super man, like snakes to Indiana Jones, like… okay you get it. Plus, I ran out of similes. "are you okay? I heard something fall inside"

Oh god, she heard that? "oh yeah, just accidentally knocked some books over" smooth. I turn around to lock the door and we walk down my pathway to her car.

"it just sounds like someone's excited, to me" she says. Yeah, well of course I'm excited; I'm going out with Brooke Davis.

"of course I am, I mean it is the _carnival_ and all" I smile.

"so true" she smiles back. "not going to shout bye mom and dad?" she asks as she opens up the car doors with her key chain.

"nah, parents aren't home" I say as we both get in the car and start driving.

"did they go out or something?" she asks.

"um, no… no not really. They bought an RV and they travel a lot. Last I heard they were in… Wisconsin?" I give my best guess.

"so then who do you live with?"

"me, myself and I"

"you live alone?" she says like it's a terrible thing.

"yeah, well my parents have been travelling a lot so they decided to move me to a small town so I could make friends with everyone and feel safe"

"no brothers… or sisters?"

"oh, no I've got plenty of those, but they all live somewhere else, or are off at college or something"

"how many?" I knew this question would come.

"2 brothers, 3 sisters"

"wow. You have a huge family" she comments.

"yeah…what about you? Any siblings?"

"nah, my parents thought one was enough. But I would have loved to have a brother or sister. Or 5"

"feel free to take mine, but just a warning, they never call you and when they _do_ stop by it's just for food or money, or both"

"hey, family is family" she comments. "oh goody we're here!" she sounds like a little kid. She gets out of the car and just stares up at the entrance. It looks so awesome because the sun is setting behind the park and all you can see is the front sign and the silhouette of all of the rides.

"wow" I breathe out.

"come on!" she yells giddily as she grabs a hold of my hand and runs into the park, forcing me to run too.

"okay, what first?! Let's ride this one!" she says pointing to one ride. "ooh, but I really want to go in the haunted house" she says jerking me in the opposite direction. "oh my god, I haven't gone on that ride in years!" she yells pulling me backwards. I think my arm is going to fall off.

"Brooke, calm down. We can go on all the rides if you want, we have the whole- _holy shit_ is that a clown?!" I yell jumping behind Brooke. She laughs and looks around at all of the little kids and their parents glaring at me.

"um, Hales, you might want to tone down the swearing a little."

"yeah, sorry, it's just clown's scare the crap out of me" I say eyeing the clown that is now walking away. Good riddance.

"Well we _are_ at a carnival"

"yeah, well I just forgot about the clown thing"

"don't worry, I'll protect you from the clowns. Now what were you saying?"

"um… oh I was just saying how we can ride all of the rides you want because I'm sure we're going to be here the whole night"

"you're right! Smart girl" she comments, and gets back on track with her game plan. "what we'll do is start from the left and make our way around in a circle. Then we'll stop to eat some candy and play some games, then we can ride the Ferris wheel for the rest of the night!"

"alright let's do it" I say and immediately she pulls me to the left for our first ride.

We have been riding every machine possible for the last 3 hours. That's right, count them, 3. I think we rode ever singly ride here possible, except for the Ferris wheel, which Brooke is saving for last.

"wasn't that awesome?" Brooke asks as we leave the twirl a whirl.

"yeah, awesome" I think I'm a little dizzy. I manage to trip over my own feet for the second time tonight and hit the ground with a thud.

"okay, there buddy, I think we need to sit down for a few minutes" she says trying to help my up. She grabs a hold of my arms and we find ourselves walking towards the closest bench. "maybe you've had enough for one night" she says smiling at me sympathetically.

"no, Brooke we haven't gone on the Ferris wheel yet"

"it's not really a big deal Haley" I can tell by the way she talks about it, it is.

"yes it is. Come on" I say, this time I'm the one pulling her to the ride. We give the man working the ride a few tickets and climb into the seat. He closes the railing on top of our laps and the ride starts moving. We start circling around and we go around once, then the ride stops. So here we are sitting at the top of the Ferris wheel looking down over the rest of Tree Hill.

"it's gorgeous, isn't it"

"it's amazing"

"this is the reason why I love the Ferris wheel" she comments. "Just the view you can get. It's like when you're at the top you can see the rest of the world"

"so you never did tell me why you're so obsessed with the carnival"

"I'm not obsessed… I'm just…"

"obsessed" I answer.

"okay, fine, I'm obsessed, but you can blame my parents for that"

"why is that?"

"because when I was little my parents would bring me here and we would ride all of the rides we could in one night because they would have to leave for business the next morning. And we would always, _always _end our night with the Ferris wheel. But you know eventually my parents would work more and more and I started growing up, so they were here less and less. Leo started taking me but it wasn't the same. And Rachel and Peyton don't really like rides. It's just been a while since I've been here"

"how long?"

"a few years" she answers.

"well hey, I know I can't replace your family or anything, but if you ever need someone to ride the Ferris Wheel, give me a call" I say. Soon we feel a jerk at the Ferris wheel and we rotate and it's our turn to get off. But before the man comes to undo the rail I stop him.

"mind if we go again?" I ask. He shrugs and let's us go around for another spin. I look over at Brooke who's smiling at me as make our way back to that view of us on top of the world.

So, here we are back at my house, Brooke walking me to my door at the end of the night. How sweet.

"so thanks for coming along to the carnival with me"

"sure thing. I enjoyed it"

"you don't have to lie, I know I get a little carried away sometimes."

"hey, I'm not lying. I enjoyed every minute of it… well except that minute I saw the clown. That minute I didn't enjoy so much" I say making her laugh a little.

"hey I said I'd protect you from those clowns" she smiles. I just can't get enough of that smile. "well look, I better get going, I don't want Leo to freak out or anything" should I kiss her? Is she going to kiss me? Does she really have to leave? She starts turning around to head back to her car, but I can't just let her go like that.

"Brooke hold on" I say and she turns around. "well see… it's just now that I've seen that clown up close and all, I'm going to end up having night mares" ooh I like where this is going. "and you said you'd protect me, so maybe you should stay the night…?"

"alright" she agrees. I hold out my hand and she takes it as we enter my house. Who says there has to be a good night kiss at the end of the night? Why can't there be a good night kiss and a good morning kiss?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

We get inside and take our shoes off as we head over to the familiar living room. "you want something to drink?"

"water please" she says. I head into the kitchen and I hear her call out something. 'I'm just going to call Leo, and then Peyton and Rachel"

"okay" I yell back. I fix a couple of drinks for us and I can hear Brooke in the living room.

"hey Leo… I'm going to spend the night at Haley's… okay, what time did they call?... yah, I'll call them in a few minutes then… thanks Leo… don't worry I'm a big girl now" aww that's so cute. She hangs up the phone as I come back into the living room with our drinks.

"thanks" she says as I hand her the water. She dials her phone again, and this time I'm sure she's calling Peyton.

"hey P… nothing much, just hanging with Haley, I'm spending the night at her house… don't worry I'm a big girl now" wow, déjà vu. "yeah, she stayed the night at my house yesterday and then we went to the carnival tonight… she went on _all_ of the rides with me, unlike some people…" Brooke pauses to laugh. "put Rachel on…hey you, how's Alex?... is he still cute?... I knew it" she smirks. She looks over at me and rolls her eyes. I'm guessing Rachel likes to talk a lot. "… again? Alright, put her on… what now Peyton?... aw okay I miss you too… um okay…" She holds the phone out to me for me to take it. "Peyton wants to talk to you" she says. Uh oh.

"aww Peyton I miss you too!" I say as fake and cheery as possible making Brooke laugh.

"ha! you're a regular comedian" she says sarcastically. "so I heard you guys went to the carnival huh?"

"yeah, they got some scary ass clowns down there" I say winking over at Brooke who's sipping her water.

"what ever, look the reason I wanted to talk to you was don't try any funny business with Brooke"

"oh what ever do you mean?"

"you know what I mean. Brooke's taking a chance on letting you in to her life, so don't screw it up. We're coming back tomorrow and if she's anything less than happy, you'll regret what ever it is you did"

"I promise you, I will not do anything to hurt her."

"you better not"

"calm down Peyton, I mean I haven't even shown her my special hand cuffs yet" I say making Brooke choke on her water and nearly spit it out. She starts coughing and I start patting her back with my free hand.

"what's going on? Is Brooke okay? What did I say about mentioning handcuffs around Brooke!" Peyton yells quickly.

"don't worry, just some water went down the wrong pipe" I should probably leave the sex jokes till later.

"fine, just try not to kill her between now and tomorrow"

"I'll try my best"

"okay, put her back on" I hand the phone back to Brooke and I think she's calmed down from the coughing now.

"yeah?... Peyton it was a joke… well at least I think it was a joke… actually I hope it wasn't a joke" Brooke says giving me a wink this time. "okay, good night, tell Rachel good night… and make sure you give Alex a kiss for me… I miss him so much… I love you guys too" she says and hands up the phone.

I turn on the TV to some random movie and look over at her again.

"you okay?"

"yeah… it's just the first time in a long time I've been without my friends"

"they'll be back tomorrow" I try to comfort her.

"no that's not the problem. See it's the first time I've been without them, but I had a lot more fun than I thought I would. It's just kind of scary knowing that I don't need to lean on them for everything"

"that's right. Because you have me"

We spend another half hour watching what ever is on TV when I see Brooke doing the nod of sleep. I turn off the TV and she looks over at me.

"come on, let's go to bed" I grab her hand and we head up the stairs.

I head to my dresser and pull out some more comfortable clothes for us. I offer it to her but she shakes her head.

"I don't like sleeping with… _restrictions_" she says pulling off her top and jeans.

"what about before when I slept over at your place?" not that I'm complaining.

"I wore clothes out of courtesy, but I feel more comfortable now" she says with a small smirk as she is only left standing in her matching bra and panties. I quickly get changed and we crawl under the covers and it may not be a king sized bed like her but I prefer to look on the up side. Less space, the closer we are. I turn over and turn the light from the lamp off and once again we're left in darkness.

"Hales"

"mm?"

"is there any way we could have a repeat of last night?"

"I think that can be arranged" I whisper as I snuggle a little closer to her. I lean my head in slowly and she meets me half way as she presses her soft lips down on to mine. What I love about her kisses is that they are soft and slow. Some people are just so anxious to kiss that it's all hard and lip bruising. I think a kiss should be enjoyed, not rushed. We pull back but we're still just as close as ever. She smiles at me and I smile back, which I know sounds crazy because we're in the dark, but it's like you can just feel it.

We lay in the bed, I'm on my back, and she's on her side slightly, neither of us tired anymore.

"so Rachel and Peyton are coming back tomorrow, huh?"

"yup" she answers.

"any word on what they're going to say about the thing?" we all know what the _thing_ is.

"no, but it doesn't really matter, because I've already decided for myself." Go Brooke!

"how do you think they're going to react?" I ask, containing my excitement

"they're going to support me" she says so sure of her self.

"how do you know?"

"because my friends and I have this agreement. What ever one of us do the others support her, because that's just the way we are. And I'm tired of living the fake life."

"can I ask you something?"

"sure"

"how come you guys 'never apologize'?"

"…when we were younger our parents were never around for us and it kind of brought us together more. So we came to the conclusion everything happens for a reason. Apologizing means saying that you're sorry and that you regret what you did, or maybe you feel guilty for it. We just feel like it's meant to be and one day it will prove to be good."

"what if you really hurt the person?"

"it doesn't matter. We still won't apologize. Regret shows you have a weakness, and when you have as much power as we do, you can't afford to show a weakness"

"and the never back down thing?" I ask.

"that's similar but has a few differences. Once again backing down shows weakness, but when you stand up for yourself it doesn't matter the outcome of the fight, you'll be a winner because knowing that you stood up for what you believed is better than backing down. _Backing down means losing everything_. Plus, the elites never lose"

"and why is that?"

"because when one of us gets into a fight, we all get into a fight. There's power in numbers"

"is that what happened to that guy in grade 10?"

"urban legend"

"really?"

"yeah, that guy moved away and he just wanted to go out with a bang" she says making me laugh a little.

"so you guys aren't really all that bad are you?"

"nah, just misunderstood"

"so why not tell everyone you're not mean? Because I think most people at Tree Hill High are scared of you"

"why would we correct them? The more fear we possess, the stronger we seem."

"one last question"

"alright, but it'll cost you" she says tapping her lips twice. I roll my eyes and give her a peck on the lips.

"consider it paid in full." I say making her laugh. "okay, so on to my question, all I hear is how you three are so close and push people away and what not…"

"yeah…"

"so why let me in? because I know you don't go around telling everybody about your family"

"…I suppose it's just because since you're new you don't know things about my past other people know, so therefore you can't judge me before you get to know me. That and you kind of know what it's like to be without family… and of course because you're smoking hot" can't argue with that.

"so this is you? No covers? No lies?"

"nope, this is me, the real me."

"then I have to say I like this Brooke Davis a lot more than I like the Brooke Davis I heard about through the elites."

"oh and what exactly do you like about this Brooke Davis?"

"I like how you're so much deeper than everyone thinks, how that you are so close with only a select amount of people but it's obvious you love them very much, and most of all, I like how this Brooke Davis likes girls, cause if she didn't I'd be shit out of luck"

"good, but just to be clear on things, this is who I am, but those rules that the elites have, apply to this Brooke Davis too"

"I know…" I whisper. I don't really want it to be true, but that's just the way it is.

I wake up a little earlier than intended and look over at Brooke. So peaceful. I decided not to play the teasing game with her. You know, the one where I kiss her and she crinkles her nose? As cute as it is, I think I'll let her sleep. In fact I think I'll do one better. I'll make her breakfast in bed. I sneak out of bed trying not to get caught and leave a pillow in my place. She'll never know the difference. I quietly hop down stairs and get a head start on break fast.

I pull out the eggs, bacon, and bread to make toast. I think we're out of all the sugary stuff. Oh well. I put a couple of slices in the toaster as I start on the bacon.

Just as I'm finishing up making the bacon nice and crispy I hear steps behind me. I turn around to see Brooke with some funny bed head and barely any clothes. And by barely any I mean she is still in her bra and panties. She's holding up the pillow I replaced my self with.

"you thought I wouldn't notice?" she says tossing the pillow on to the living room couch.

"I tried" I shrug.

"need some help?"

"yeah, sure, do you know how to make scrambled eggs?" I'm having an odd craving for those.

"um, well Leo taught me but-"

"-well if Leo taught you then they must be great" I say moving Brooke in front of the eggs. I hand her a bowl and a whisk and let her get to it.

"if you say so." I let her continue with the eggs as I finish putting the bacon the a couple of plates, buttering the toast and pouring some orange juice for us. Just as I place the forks and knives down on the table Brooke comes over with the pan in hand and dishes the scrambled eggs onto our plates.

"okay, so I haven't made scrambled eggs in a long time and last time I made them they didn't come out so good" Brooke says.

"Brooke, I'm sure they'll be fine" I say. She watches me and waits for me to take a bite out of them. So I pick up my fork and take a bite. I'm chewing and… I'm eating and… I'm swallowing and… oh my god these are the worst eggs I've ever tasted.

"so how are they?"

"great" I say through a mouthful of food. She gives me a smile and starts taking a bite out of her toast. As soon as I see her look away I grab my napkin and spit out the eggs. But to my dismay she caught that.

"I knew it, they're terrible!"

"no Brooke… they're just different" I say choosing my words wisely.

"they suck" she concludes. I just nod. I don't want to lie to her. "okay don't worry, I can solve this" she says getting up from the table and rummaging through my fridge.

"aha!" I hear. She comes back to the table and shows me what she has.

"ketchup?"

"trust me" she says opening it up and pouring some on my eggs. "go ahead" she says. One more bite won't kill me, hopefully. I shovel a forkful of eggs into my mouth with some ketchup on it and surprisingly it doesn't taste bad. It's pretty good actually.

"mm, much better" I say nodding.

"see. Ketchup fixes everything" She says putting some on her eggs, toast and bacon.

"obsessed much?"

"I just like ketchup, a lot."

"well that's normal" I say sarcastically.

"when I was younger Leo would try to teach me to cook and stuff and well everything I made turned out horrible of course, so he told me to put ketchup on it. So I did and it's like everything tasted so much better. So I put it on everything and eventually I had to have it with everything I ate. I could eat ketchup with anything basically… but vegetables and sugar."

"you're a weird person Brooke."

"I know"

"you do realize the only reason ketchup makes it taste better is because it over powers the bad taste right?"

"oh, I know" she repeats. "but it's just the way I am"

After we finished breakfast we started doing the dishes, I wash, she dries. And just to make the time go by faster we turned on a little music. And at this time in the morning and this station, it only plays old songs. Lucky for us, it was a song we both knew the words to.

"at first I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong and I grew strong, and I learned how to get along. So now you're back, from outer space, I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face…" we sang together to the tune of I will Survive by Aretha Franklin. This song never gets old.

So we're dancing and singing and washing dishes, yes this is an odd sight. Just as I hand Brooke the last plate I hear a knock at my door.

"I'll be back in a sec" I say as I leave Brooke singing by herself. I walk to the front door and open it, finding two familiar faces.

"surprise!" Rachel says fakely. "where is she?" she asks trying to get a look into my house. All of a sudden we hear Brooke's singing from the kitchen.

"oh no not I, I will survive. Oh as long as I know how to love I know I'll be alive" she sings. I hear her put the last dish away and I fear that she's coming to find me. "come on Haley I need my singing buddy back!" she says and oh god, now I hear the foot steps as she continues to sing. "oh go on now go, walk out the door. Just turn around now, because you're not welco-" She comes to a stop as she enters the room and see who's standing in front of me.

I look back to see Rachel and Peyton. I don't even know why they're angry… I mean it's just singing. Oh no wait, yep, I forgot, Brooke's still half naked.

"Brooke?" Rachel asks.

"h-hey guys" she says trying to pull off a laugh, but fails miserably. She grabs the pillow she brought down from the couch and covers as much of her body as she can with it.

"put some pants on Davis" Rachel says commandingly. Without any response she turns around and heads up my stairs. Did she just leave me alone with these two? Crap.

I turn around and they're definitely not happy. "look this isn't what it looks like" I try to start.

"really?" Peyton asks as they step into my house. "cause it looks like Brooke's singing and dancing around in her underwear" okay, maybe it is what it looks like.

"she only sings after sex" Rachel points out.

"oh hey, no. we didn't do that" I say. I think I'd remember something like that.

"pft" Peyton scoffs. "like we could trust you to answer that question" Before I can argue with her again Brooke comes rushing down the stairs, not wanting to leave me alone with her friends any longer.

"so… how's Alex, my favourite pet horse?" she asks. Lies, lies I tell you.

"don't try to change the subject" Peyton threatens.

"Brooke, did you sleep with her?" Rachel asks, as if I'm not even there.

"define sleep" that sounded a lot worse than it actually is.

"Did. You. Have. Sex. With. Her?" Rachel asks slowly, thinking it will be more clearer. Wow these girls really get to the point don't they.

"nooooo" Brooke says extra slow, mimicking Rachel. That was actually kind of funny watching Rachel's expression.

"then why are you singing?" Peyton asks. "you always sing after you've had sex"

"no I don't!" Brooke yells. "I really don't" she says to me. "I sing when I'm happy. Big difference" aww she's happy with me.

"you really expect us to believe that?" Rachel asks.

"yes!"

"how can we Brooke? You come out of the kitchen in your underwear and you think we're not going to say anything"

"no I expected you to say something, but I also expected you to trust me!"

"we _do_ trust you…" Peyton starts. This is where I come in.

"but you don't trust _me_" I say. Their silence confirms it all.

"well you're going to learn to have to" Brooke says walking up beside me. "because I refuse to hide any longer"

"yeah, we kind of figured once we left alone with Haley for a weekend it'd pretty much persuade you" Rachel concludes.

"so you'll do it?" Brooke asks hopefully.

"we have no choice now" Rachel says. Brooke lets out a loud squeal as she jumps over my coffee table to hug them both at the same time.

"I love you guys!" she cries out. They share their three way hug as I'm left standing here watching. Where are Lucas and Nathan when you need them?

"okay, so us being who we are, there's only one way to do this" Rachel says.

"party?" Brooke asks.

"party" Both Peyton and Rachel confirm. _Ooh, goody._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"So any idea why the elites are having a party on a Tuesday?" Lucas asks me in particular. Brooke, Peyton and Rachel all wanted to have this party soon and get it over with, so they have more time to deal with damage control. But I'm not really supposed to say anything to anyone. But lunch time at school gives Nathan and Lucas the perfect opportunity to bombard me about it.

"no clue" I reply. Nathan and Lucas just look at me like I'm lying. I glance up and my eyes catch the eyes of Brooke Davis. I can't help but smile as she smiles back at me. She gives me a wink and I try to cover my embarrassing blush by bowing my head a little. Lucas sees me and looks back to see what I was looking at.

"so you and Brooke are getting close huh?"

"I suppose"

"how did the carnival go?"

"fine"

"how was the sleep over?"

"great"

"how was the kiss?" Nathan slips in there.

"amazing." _Damn it! How did he do that?_ "hey! You tricked me!" stupid speed round questions.

"so you two kissed?" Nathan asks with a silly grin on his face.

"stop thinking _that_" I say to Nathan.

"stop thinking what?"

"what ever dirty thoughts you're thinking about. Stop." I threaten him. I look over at Lucas and he's smiling too. "you too" I say to him.

"hey, I wasn't thinking anything dirty. I was just thinking that you look happy" I don't confirm nor deny everything. I'll just wait until the party. Speaking of which I have to talk to Brooke about. How exactly are we going to let everyone know about Brooke? I mean are we just going to come right out and say it or what? By last period I take my usual seat in front of Brooke and when the lesson starts I rip out a piece of paper from my note book and write something down.

_Question: how are you going to tell everyone tomorrow? _I fold the piece of paper up and watch and see the teacher turn his back to me. I turn around slightly and hold the note to her. She reaches her hand for it, but Peyton snatches it before Brooke can even touch it. Halfway through opening it Brooke steals it back. She looks at me and shakes her head with a smile. I just smile back.

I turn around to make it look like I'm paying attention and 30 seconds later I hear Brooke say "psst." I reach my hand backwards without looking back and I feel her place the piece of paper in my hand while letting her fingers brush against my palm. I open up the note to read what she wrote.

_**I was thinking you and me in front of everyone with a little lip lock…**_

I smile and write something back.

_Is that it?_ I fold it up and toss it to her again. Instead of calling me back she tosses the paper on to my desk and I unfold it.

_**Well so far… but then there's always what we do upstairs.**_

_Oh, and what exactly happens up stairs? _I write back. I toss it back to her and hear her snicker from my seat. She tries to toss the paper back onto my desk, but throws it too far. I roll my eyes to myself and slide down in my seat so I can extend my leg. Just as I'm about to grab it with my shoe another foot stomps on it. Ooh, leather shoe, possibly male, yep looks like the teacher's shoe. I look up to see a very angry chem. Teacher. I try smiling at him but it doesn't work.

"Miss. James, passing notes?"

"… sorry" I say knowing I'm already caught.

"who are you passing them to?" he asks trying to get me to rat out Brooke. I don't answer him and he just gets angrier. "I'll see you in detention after school" he says. Crap, I hate detention.

"wait!" Brooke yells out. Oh Brooke, don't be stupid. "she was passing the note to me" Brooke admits. See that's being stupid.

"well then I'll see you in detention as well, Miss. Davis"

"wait" Peyton says like it's a death sentence. "I was passing notes too" she admits. Why did she just say that? I see Peyton give Rachel a nudge and she decides to speak up too.

"yeah, me too" Rachel sighs.

I think on some level the teacher knows they had nothing to do with it, but as a teacher it's his job to treat the students equally and that's what he has to do. "alright, all 4 of you have detention then." He sighs as well.

As soon as the bell rang we watched as everyone else left, but we stayed in the room. The teacher told us he'd be back in a few minutes to check up on us. Of course he wouldn't waste his time in detention either.

As soon as he's gone I turn around to face the elites. "you guys didn't have to do that" I say to them.

"I know" Rachel starts. "…we wouldn't have either if _Brooke_ here had just stayed quiet."

"I couldn't let Haley take the blame for everything like that" Brooke says.

"so why'd you do it anyways?" I ask.

"we do everything together, and that includes getting in trouble" Peyton answers me. I just nod in response.

"okay, well since we're stuck here for the next half hour I'm going to get some work done" Rachel says as she pulls out her cell phone.

"work?" I ask, doubting her work.

"for the party, that is" she adds. Peyton also pulls out her cell phone and gets down to 'work' as Brooke gets up from her seat and pulls out a chair beside me.

"what? No work for you?"

"what work would I have? I already made the invite list"

"am I on it?"

"are you kidding? you're number one"

"okay, so I know I'm invited, but how do other people know?"

"mass text messaging. We get the cell phone numbers of the people we want to invite and each of us text message them all at the same time"

"so that's how it works…"

"yep" she answers as we watch Rachel and Peyton continuously bicker on their cell phones.

"what happens if the teacher comes back in?" I ask.

"they've got it covered" she replies. I just nod.

"so what did you write in the note that subsequently led to us being caught? Something about going _upstairs?_" I ask with a smirk, knowing it was probably super dirty. We see Peyton and Rachel both freeze and look at us.

"…monopoly, of course" Brooke answers like it's so obvious.

"is that what they're calling it these days?" Peyton asks with a kinked eye brow.

"just get back to work" Brooke shoos them away. "so the party is tomorrow at 8:00pm at Rachel's house"

"wait, I don't know where Rachel's house is"

"and that is why I will be picking you up around 8:15" she says with a smirk.

"if you say so…"

"oh, I say so" she answers. Just then the teacher walks back into the class room to check on us and see both girls talking away on their cell phones.

"what's going on here?" he asks, in a slightly angry tone.

Peyton and Rachel both cover the mouth part of their phone with their hands and look at the teacher. "gyno" they reply together. The teacher takes a second to gather his thoughts and decides that he's going to let it slide. He nods and then exits the way he came in. We all can't help but laugh at his reaction.

These girls really do control the school and everything in it.

(Brooke's POV)

So it's just about 8:15, the night of the party and I'm pulling up to Haley's house. I am so nervous tonight. This could possibly determine my social status tomorrow and for the rest of my high school career. But now's not the time to think about that. As I'm getting out of the car I notice a yellow taxi pull up into the drive way and see another girl step out. I'm just about walking beside her. Should I say hi? I mean it's just a random stranger, but still she obviously came to Haley's house for a reason, so she must know Haley.

"hi" I say.

"hey there" she says back. We both walk up to the door and I knock on it.

"do you, uh, do you know Haley?" I ask.

"yeah… me and her go way back" oh so she's an old friend. "so how do you know Haley?" that's a good question actually.

"um she's my… um, she and I are… well we're…"

"… you're what?" she asks, getting kind of annoyed of my stuttering.

"we… have chemistry together" I didn't know how else to answer, points for double meaning though. I don't even know if this girl knows about Haley and girls in general.

"oh, okay." This girl says knocking at the door. Where is Haley anyways.

"you from out of town?"

"Yeah, I just came to visit Haley for a while…"

"oh, so you're staying with Haley. In that case why don't you come out with us tonight, we're going to a party" oh wait, maybe I shouldn't have asked her that.

"on a Tuesday?" she asks.

"oh we throw crazy parties all the time, it's no big deal. A little hang over in school never hurt anyone"

"and Haley's going?" she asks.

"sure is"

"then I guess I _have _to go" she replies. We stand in silence for a few more seconds. Before it gets even more awkward I start banging at Haley's door.

"okay, okay, I'm coming!" she yells through the door. Soon the door swings open and I see that beautiful girl standing before me.

"hey Brooke" she says happily. Then turns to the girl beside me and her jaw nearly drops. "Taylor?"

"hey Hales, long time no see" she says with a smile. Haley has trouble getting any words out at this point.

"oh yeah, Hales, I invited your friend along with us to the party. You didn't tell me one of your she was coming into town"

"th-that's because I didn't know" she says, trying to shake her head in hopes of getting her head straight. "Taylor, what are you doing here?"

"can't a girl come down and visit her little sister?" whoa, whoa, what?

"sister?" I ask.

"Brooke, meet Taylor, my older sister."

"okay, um wow. It's nice to meet you" I say.

"so at this party, is their going to be a ton of beer?"

"it's not a party without it" I say. Oh maybe I shouldn't have said that either. I doubt a lot of older sisters would want their little sister going to a wild party with tons of beer on a school night.

"great" Taylor says handing her bags over to Haley to put inside. "let's get going then" maybe she's a cool older sister.

(Haley's POV)

I can't believe Taylor's here. What am I supposed to do with her? Fuck, I know she's going to end up staying with me, and she better not screw things up with Brooke. I really want things to work out. Okay, I can't think about this now. I need to focus on Brooke tonight, because tonight is all about her, and making her feel comfortable.

We pull up to what I suspect is Rachel's house. There is reserved parking for 2 cars in the driveway and Brooke takes a spot behind a black convertible Mercury. I'm guessing that's Peyton's car. We get out of the car and see a bunch of people going in and some people already there.

The three of us step into the door way and I can already tell this party is crazy. All I see are people either drinking, dancing or making out. The party's been going on for like 20 minutes and people are already drunk. Without even looking back I start instructing Taylor.

"look, Tay, don't drink too much, I don't want us to have to carry you home at-"

"-who are you talking to?" Brooke asks me. I look around and do a full 360 before I realize Taylor's gone.

"apparently myself" I answer. She smiles at me and grabs my hand.

"come on, let's go find the freak out twins" the freak out who?

"who?"

"Rachel and Peyton" she clarifies. "for the first hour of the party they're always freaking out because they think everything has to be perfect" she leads me into the kitchen where I see Rachel pulling a case of beer out of the fridge and Peyton talking on her cell phone. Brooke gives them each a hug and helps pull a case out of the fridge with Rachel.

"don't just stand there, help!" Rachel says to me. I roll my eyes and grab a case. We walk into the living room, passed the people doing body shots, passed the two girls who are about to have a cat fight, and straight to the guy doing a keg stand. We walk behind him and toss the beer into a few metal tubs full of ice.

"you good now?" Brooke asks. Rachel takes a visible deep breath and looks back at her.

"yeah, thanks."

"so what's Peyton freaking out about?" Brooke asks.

"I think the band cancelled on her last minute so she's trying to get some more speakers for her player" Rachel answers.

Next thing we know we hear Peyton's voice through the speakers placed strategically in each corner of the room.

"what's up guys? Who's ready to party?" everyone in the room lets out a loud yell in response. "alright, well we'll play the beats for a while but the other elites and I have an announcement tonight and we'd appreciate it if you understand where we stand. Until then drink up and have fun" she turns the music back up and walks over to join us.

"okay, so I figured we'd do it in about a half hour or so, that way more people are drunk"

"alright, until then, let's have fun" Rachel says grabbing four beers, two bottles in each hand. We each take one and they pop off the cap with their hands. I try twisting it off and I fail. Wow, those things hurt. Who was the idiot who put spikes on a bottle cap? The girls all laugh at me as Brooke takes off the cap for me as I still hold the bottle.

"cheers ladies. Tonight is the night everything changes" Brooke says as we all knock bottles together and take a drink. I have to remember not to drink too much tonight. I can't embarrass Brooke.

About 20 minutes later the elites went out back to hang so I decided to let them go. I don't want them to think I'm stealing Brooke or anything. I'm casually walking through the many rooms of the house as I come across a couple of familiar faces.

"well, well, if it isn't the Scott brothers" I say walking up beside them.

"hey Hales" Lucas says.

"so what's with the announcement tonight?" Nathan asks. And before I answer he cuts me off. "and don't even try saying you don't know, because I know you do"

"okay, I know something" I admit. "but you're going to have to wait to figure out what it is later" I say. And it's not really a secret. I mean they know, but they just don't know that the information they know is the secret we're going to reveal tonight. Confusing, I know.

"fine" they both huff.

"hey did you see that crazy girl in the other room?" Nathan asks pointing towards the next room over where we hear some sort of chanting. Oh god, please don't be Taylor.

"yeah, some girl's dancing on the table" Lucas adds. Damn, that sounds like Taylor too. I quickly dart to the next room to see my sister giving some high school guy a lap dance. She's 3 years older than me for god sakes; can't she control herself for once?

"Taylor!" I scold her. She looks up and gives me a small wave as she continues to arouse the probably overly horny teenaged boy. It's obvious she's already way ahead of me in the drinking game. She never could hold her liquor. I'm about to grab Taylor and pull her outside when someone beats me to it. It's Rachel. I follow the red head and my sister all the way back to the kitchen, where very few people are. I think everyone knows that the kitchen is off limits to anyone but the elites.

"Rachel!" I call out as we finally enter the kitchen.

"hold on Haley, I'm dealing with something right now" she says as she has a firm grip on Taylor's arm and pulls out her cell phone with her other hand. She uses her mouth to flip it open and starts dialling with her thumb.

"what are you doing?"

"calling a cab. I hate when people crash elite parties" she says. "yeah hi, I need a cab sent to 1672 Wallick Lane… great thanks" she says and hangs up the phone.

She sits Taylor down, and I think now's the best time to tell her I know this girl.

"listen I'll take care of her and make sure she gets home safe" I say to Rachel. Taylor's almost passed out now.

"it's fine, I deal with things like this all the time"

"no uh, you don't understand. She doesn't even know where she lives. She's staying with me."

"is she a friend of yours?" Rachel asks.

"she's my sister" I admit.

"oh, that's why…"

"yeah, so listen I'll take her home and then I'll come back here in time for the announcement." I say looking down at my watch, I should have enough time. Rachel grabs my wrist and looks at the time too.

"fine, but don't take long, we've got a schedule to run on"

"alright"

"oh and don't forget to tell Brooke"

"okay, I will. Do you know where she is?"

"she could be anywhere in the house, it's a pretty big place" yeah I saw the outside, it is huge.

"okay, thanks" I say and Rachel takes off to take care of more things, or have fun or something. I get out my cell phone and there's no point in calling Brooke seeing as we wouldn't be able to talk over the music anyways, so I send her a text message.

_Where r u? _I text her. And within seconds she texts me back.

**Me&peyt are in 1 of the upstairs bathrooms, y? **she texts me back.

_Tay's wasted, im going to take her home & come back, k?_

**Want me 2 come with?**

_No, it's fine, cab should be here soon_

**K, let me kno when ur back**

_I will xoxo_

**Xxxx **She texts back. I bet she can't wait for that kiss.

"haley-bub, I want to hear the big announcement too" Taylor slurs out.

"well, I can tell you tomorrow, after your hang over" I say as I lead her to the door. By the time we make it to the curb the taxi pulls up. We get inside and I tell him the address of my house.

"Hales, is the announcement about you?" Taylor asks.

"no, it's about Brooke"

"your girlfriend?" she knows? Well I mean about me, not about Brooke being my girlfriend, cause she isn't well, not really. I don't know.

"she's not my girlfriend" I answer her.

"well she's obviously something"

"why do you think that?"

"a girl like that, wouldn't be hanging out with you unless she really liked you" wow, that was really insulting and kind of nice at the same time. I forgot drunk Taylor always has a slight edge to her.

"gee, thanks Tay" I say sarcastically.

"so… have you two done it yet?" she asks casually. What kind of question is that?

"Taylor!" I scold her.

"hey, I'm your sister, I'm allowed to know these things" she argues.

"sister's are also supposed to take care of their little sister when their parents leave her alone in a new town" I also say.

"hey, what do you think I was here for?" oh please, I know she's not here to be with me. She's just looking for a place to sleep for a few nights, maybe get a little cash out of me. But she's definitely not here for me.

"don't even try that, Tay"

"fine, don't believe me" she says. Don't worry, I won't. We pull up to my house and I ask the driver to wait here for a few minutes. I get Taylor out of the car and into the house. Instead of hauling her huge ass up the stairs, I plant her down on the couch with a bucket beside her and a blanket on top of her. I run back out the door and I realize I have like 5 minutes to get back. I head back into the cab and ask him to take me back to where he picked me up from. Along the way I get a text from Brooke.

**Where r u?!** she texts. Uh oh, a question mark and an exclamation point are never good.

_On my way back now_

**Well hurry, we don't want ppl leaving**

_It's only 9:30_

**If ppl drink anymore they won't remember the announcement tmr**

_Lol, okay, how about you start the announcement and I'll run into the room and take you in my arms and plant a big kiss on you_ I text jokingly.

**Sounds like a plan**

_I was kidding._

**You have 5 minutes to run into this room and kiss me or else I'm getting either Peyt or Rach to do it for you**

_Ur on! _I think she's serious about this.

**Promise?**

_I promise_

**4 minutes**

Oh crap. "excuse me, could you drive a little faster?" I ask the driver. "I'm on a deadline" he nods and starts driving slightly faster.

I lost track of time a couple of minutes ago, so I have no clue if I'll make it or not. I look at the house and I don't hear any music. Crap!

"thank you" I say quickly paying the cab driver and darting for the door. I can hear Peyton over the speakers and this is it, I think I might just make it. Except there is wall after wall of lots of non moving people listening.

"well guys, like I said before, we've got a bit of an announcement for you, and it involves all of us elites here" I hear Peyton say. I start pushing my way through the crowd trying to get to the front where I suspect Brooke is.

"excuse me. Excuse me" I repeat over and over again, as I weave through the people. If Brooke can't trust me to kiss her, what can she trust me with?

"so I'm going to hand the mic over to Brooke now" Peyton says. "hey guys, having fun tonight?" Brooke asks, probably stalling for time. Everyone throws their arms up and screams, actually making it easier for me to weave through.

"so uh, tonight there is something important that I wanted to share with all of you because I've been hiding it long enough." I'm almost there! "you know how much I love to party and find the cutest boy to… well, you now" she hints, making everyone laugh. "well see the thing is…" yes, I'm at the front! I push through the last of the people. I see Brooke Rachel and Peyton all standing at the front of me. Brooke's eyes meet mine and it's like they're pulling me towards her.

I run up beside her and grab her hand so that she faces me. She has the microphone still in front of her mouth, but is only staring into my eyes.

"I'm into girls too" she says and hands the microphone blindly to Rachel. Before we can hear any gasps or whispers or any comments at all, she meets me in the middle for our first public kiss. And let me tell you it's amazing. Her lips are attached to mine as her warm hands rest on the crook of my neck to hold me closer. I pull her closer by her waist, not wanting to let her go. It's like everything has gone silent, and I know there are people probably whistling or whooping but it's like I can't hear anything. I'm too busy with Brooke.

We finally pull back, stupid air. We turn to the group of people before us who are still in awe. Brooke nudges Rachel beside her who still has the microphone and snaps back into it.

"oh, and if you have a problem with any of it, you can deal with us, the elites. We'll be happy to give any homophobe out there a well deserved beat down" she threatens nicely. All of a sudden it's like things clicked in everyone's mind because they all started clapping.

I see the proud looks on Rachel and Peyton faces, but I don't care because as soon as I see Brooke's expression my heart melts. It's the look of pure happiness.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

After our little announcement, people started clearing out slowly. By 1:00am the place was empty except for us four girls. After helping clean up a little I decided I should probably get going, make sure Taylor didn't die from alcohol poisoning or anything.

"Hey" I say tossing another beer can into the bag Brooke was holding.

"hey, so how great was tonight?" she asks, still on a buzz from the adrenaline rush.

"it was amazing" I say over exaggeratedly.

"it was the kiss, I know" she says so full of her self. We share a small laugh and continue to clean.

"listen, I think I'm going to head home now, I've got to check on Taylor, is that okay?"

"yeah sure"

"if you want you could always stop by my house when you're done here and spend the night or something" I offer.

"thanks, but Peyton and I always stay the night at Rachel's after one of our parties"

"okay…" darn I really wanted to go to sleep with her. I kind of missed her over the passed couple of night.

"but hey, I'll see you at school tomorrow morning right?"

"you got it" I say with a small smile.

"thanks for everything, by the way" she says grabbing a hold of my hand.

"it was fun… sweeping you off your feet and all"

"my saviour" She looks around the room and we notice Peyton and Rachel aren't here. I lean in and give her a quick peck on the lips since we have the privacy. I shoot her another smile and start heading for the door. But before I can take a step she pulls me back by my hand for another, longer kiss.

"alright, break it up you two" Peyton says appearing in the door way. "I think that's enough kissing for one night" Brooke rolls her eyes at me and I give her one last final kiss on the cheek before I head for the door. I pass by Rachel and Peyton on the way, managing not to get a speech from them. I think they're starting to like me now, especially since I kissed Brooke in front of everyone.

"night guys"

"night" all three of them reply at the same time. I really have to learn how they do that.

The next morning I wake up to the blaring sound of my alarm clock, and I'm thankful I only had one beer, because any more and probably would have ended up like Taylor, sleeping on the couch with a puke bucket beside my head.

I turn off my alarm and quickly pick out an outfit. I don't know why I'm in such a rush, I mean I'm only going to see Brooke. Oh wait, that's why. Never mind. I go down stairs and head into the kitchen to grab some juice and an apple for my walk to school. I walk into the living room to find Taylor barely lying on the couch. It looks like she could fall off any minute. I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and a bottle of Tylenol. I place it beside her on the coffee table and fix her blanket.

It never really mattered who was the younger and older sister in the family. Tay and I always took care of each other. They might call her Hurricane Taylor, but she'll always be my big sister. I give her a kiss on the forehead and make my way out the door. I turn to lock it with my keys and as soon as I turn around I spot her. Her and her blue VW bug. She's smiling and wearing her sunglasses as she leans up against her car, waiting for me.

"Brooke, what are you doing here?" I ask walking a little faster just so I can get there a little sooner.

"well I felt bad that I couldn't spend the night with you, so I thought I would save you the walk this morning" she says opening the passenger door for me.

"aw, thank you" I say getting in the car. She shuts the door and walks around to get in on her side. "so where's Peyton and Rachel?"

"I think they're going to skip first period to sleep in a little. They had more to drink than I did. Which is kind of strange actually, because I'm usually the hung over one"

"sounds like my sister" I comment.

"yeah, I heard about the lap dance. How much did she drink anyways? I mean she was only there for like an hour"

"yeah, well I'm not sure, but she must have drunk a lot, and fast. She was still sleeping when I got up this morning"

"I'm sure she'll be fine by this afternoon."

"So Brooke Davis, what does it feel like knowing that everyone knows who you really are now?"

"it uh, actually feels like I'm kind of naked"

"too bad it doesn't look like it" I say, she gives me a playful push with her right hand. "okay, okay, easy on the arm. It's still a little sore from being dragged around the carnival"

"hey be careful or I'm going to have to get some clowns to scare you" man, I hate clowns.

"fine, back to the topic, you feel naked now?" I try holding in my smirk.

"_yes_" she says smirking back at me. "because everyone knows who I am now, who I really am. And well today is kind of more important than last night, because today they're all sober."

"I'm sure it will be fine… but uh, if today's more important than last night how come Rachel and Peyton aren't with you?"

"…they're just not" she says. I can tell she wanted her friends with her today, but I guess that's not happening. Remind me to yell at them later. But I guess for now, I'm going to have to be there for Brooke.

She drives straight to the front where her off-the-record parking spot is. But we can't park in it because there's a crowd of people surrounding it.

"what the hell?" Brooke asks herself. She honks the horn and people turn around to see who it is. Immediately they start clearing a way for her and we finally see what everyone's staring at. Written all over the parking space and the cement block was the word 'dyke'.

"oh my god" I whisper out. Instead of parking in her spot Brooke veers to the right a little and parks in Rachel's spot for the time being. We both get out of the car and we can hear the whispers. I walk around to Brooke's side so I can be with her. All she can do is stare at the spot. I grab her hand to hold, and I can feel her squeeze the dear life out of it.

"who would do this?" I ask. Just then I see Nathan and Lucas run to the front of the group to see what happened. "Brooke come on…" I say trying to get her into the school and away from all of the looks. But she shakes the grip on my hand and gets back into her car and drives off. Shit. Just then the bell rings and people start slowly walking to class, hoping that Brooke would come back for another show. Lucas and Nathan come over to me and I can't help but stare at the parking space.

"Haley…" Lucas tries to comfort me but I have to deal with this.

"give me your phone" I say to him, patting him down, trying to get the phone faster. "come on! Give me your phone!"

He's stunned for a second, but then quickly reacts and pulls his phone out of his back pocket. Good thing I didn't pat down back there. He hands it over and I immediately flip it open.

"what are you doing?"

"looking for Peyton's cell phone number, I know you have it" I say. Aha, I found it. I hit dial and it starts ringing. And ringing and ringing. "come on Peyton, pick up… pick up…"

"Lucas! You are not calling me at 8:00 o'clock in the morning!" she yells, I must have woken her up.

"Peyton, it's Haley, is Brooke there?"

"Haley, how did you…?"

"answer the question!" I yell.

"no, she isn't. why, what happened?!" now she's starting to catch on.

"you need to get down here right now. You have to see this"

"We'll be there in a couple of minutes" she says and hangs up the phone. I give it back to Lucas and all I can do is wait. All I can do is wait and stare at this parking space.

I tried calling Brooke. Over and over again, and she still wouldn't answer. It scares me not knowing where she is, especially when I know she's not with Rachel and Peyton. A couple minutes after I called them we finally see them drive their cars into the parking lot. Nathan and Lucas were still standing behind me. They see what happened with Brooke's spot and pull into their own. They get out of their cars, slamming the door behind them and walk over to us.

"what the hell happened?!" Rachel yells.

"I don't know, we show up to school this morning and we find this"

All I see is Peyton shake her head.

"I thought people were cool with this last night" Nathan says.

"apparently not" Lucas says.

"are you sure Brooke didn't go back to you guys?" I ask, they both just shake their heads at me.

"look, I'll go back and check, maybe we missed her or something" Rachel says.

"okay, I'll go check my place. Can you guys help?" Peyton asks. Lucas just nods like a freak. "Nathan, can you go check out Tric or something?" she asks.

"sure"

"Lucas and I will go check out her house" I add in.

"fine" Peyton agrees, a little angry. I'm taken back by the sudden emotion, but before I can say anything we all break off into each of our cars. I get in Luke's car because I don't have a car. We drive out of the parking lot and heave off to her house.

"who do you think would do this?"

"I don't know, but who ever he or she is, is risking a lot"

"what do you mean?"

"well the elites said who ever had a problem would have to deal with them"

"but we don't even know who did it" I say. This whole thing is just really screwed up. "did you hear the way Peyton said 'fine'? if she didn't hate me before, she definitely hates me now"

"she's just… upset" he tries to say, but I know she hates me.

"she thinks it's my fault doesn't she"

"… yeah, kind of" he says hesitantly. I knew it.

We pull up outside of Brooke's house and I don't see her car. It's already looking bad. "come on" I say. Both Lucas and I get out of the car and run to the door, we ring the door bell a couple of times. Within a minute the door swings open and there in front of us stands one of Brooke's maids, with Leo behind her.

"hi, is Brooke home?" I ask, trying my best not to cry. God, I hope she didn't do anything stupid. I see Leo relieve the woman at the door and steps out with us.

"is something wrong, Miss. James?" he asks. "Miss. Davis said she was staying the night at Miss. Gatina's with Miss. Sawyer." all these last names are confusing me.

"no, uh, I just didn't see her this morning, I guess she just slept in" there's no point in worrying Leo.

"alright then Miss. James. Have a good day"

"you too" I say and he closes the door. Just as Luke and I are walking back to the car, his phone starts ringing.

"it's Peyton" he says looking down at the screen. I take the phone from his hand and answer it instead of him.

"Peyton? Did you find her?" I immediately ask.

"no, she's not here and she's not at Rachel's, and I'm guessing you didn't find her."

"what about Nathan?"

"he didn't see her either. I don't know where else to check!"

"okay, um calm down, keep looking and we'll call you back if we see anything. I think I know one more place to check"

"okay, wher-" she asks, but before she finishes I cut her off and hang up the phone. I don't have time for this. I toss it back to Luke and get in his car.

"we have to go"

"where to?" he asks.

There's her car. Thank god.

"call Peyton, let her know where we are. I'm going to go talk to her" I say as Lucas comes to a stop and I get out. We're at the carnival, on a Wednesday morning. I see her sitting on the ground waiting outside the wooden gates that are chained shut. I walk up to her slowly, I'm sure she's seen me but she hasn't acknowledged me yet.

I take a seat beside her just thankful that I finally found her.

"who knew they locked the carnival up during the day?" she said with a slight chuckle as she played with the chains above her head.

"everyone?" I ask trying to get a rise out of her, but no use.

"am I a fool for being who I want to be?" she asks, finally looking up at me.

"no, no of course not" I say trying to sooth her.

"then why is everything so screwed up?" she asks, trying to make sense of it all. It's just not right. "for once in my life I finally feel good and happy, like I have everything… then something like _this_ happens. And then I realize that I have nothing."

"that's not true Brooke… you have so much! You've got Leo, and you've got me, and you know you have Rachel and Peyton. We're all here for you"

"you're wrong" she says quietly. "I don't have Rachel and Peyton, for once they weren't there for me when I needed it"

"Brooke, don't say that…"

"why not?! It's true!"

"Brooke, they're out there, right now looking for you! They obviously care about you"

"not enough to be able to find me"

"I'm sure this was their next stop" I say. It probably wasn't, but I should say that anyways.

"no it wasn't" she shakes her head with a sad smile. The tears in her face are almost falling. I can barely look at her. "what do I do Haley?"

"you-"

"-Brooke!" we hear Peyton yell, followed by a car door slamming shut. We look over to see Peyton, followed by Rachel heading over to us.

"Brooke, we looked every where for you, come here sweetie" Rachel says trying to get closer to Brooke. But Brooke stands up and shakes them off of her. I stand up too.

"no" she mutters.

"sweetie, come on" Peyton starts. "Let's go back to my place and talk" she tries to grab on to Brooke's arm for moral support, but once again Brooke shakes her off.

"no!" she yells this time.

"what the hell Brooke?" Peyton yells, by this time Lucas is out of his car and over to help us. "we're trying to help you!"

"where was this help an hour ago when I was standing in the parking lot staring at the word 'dyke' flashing in front of me?! Where were you when everyone was staring at me?! Where were you when I needed you the most?!" she yells, with the tears starting to come down, one by one.

"how were we supposed to know this was going to happen?" Rachel asks, joining the conversation.

"it doesn't matter. You should have known that I need you more than ever now, today was the day that I started over. The day that I start fresh, with the life I wanted to live… _that, _you should have known."

"well forgive us for trying to make last night perfect for you!" Peyton yells. "we try to do our best to help you and how do you thank us? You say we're not there for you!"

"it's because you weren't! You know who was there? Haley was!" she yells, pointing to me. She's going to bring me into this now, great. "she stood there holding my hand when my friends were too hung over to even drive! She was there to spend the entire weekend with me when my friends went to Charlotte! She was there when I ran away and she knew _exactly _where to come and find me! If she wasn't here right now, you guys would have no idea where I would be"

"she's there for you for one weekend" Rachel points out. "_one_ weekend! We've been there for you, day in and day out for the last 9 years of your life! We have spent nearly every weekend together since then and you freak out because we go down to Charlotte to visit Alex without you? Well forgive us for not putting you first in _our _lives"

"I'm not asking to be first! All I'm asking is for the time I need you, you be there, because I've been there for you every step of the way, and you know it!"

"and we haven't?!"

"not lately" she says leaning back and crossing her arms a little. I sense some more fighting coming on.

"what about when you were younger and your parents actually decided to come back and stay with you for a few months?" Peyton asks in a surprisingly calming voice.

"Peyton, don't go there" Brooke says through clenched teeth.

"oh so you can criticize us but we can't stand up for it?"

"Peyton, just leave it" Rachel cuts in.

"no, I won't leave it!" she yells. "you call us bad friends, but who was around when your parents decided they want to be parents and control everything you do? Who was there for you when you came crying over to my house when your dad started to hit you?!" what? Is she serious? She can't be. "who was there to hold the ice pack to your head when your dad wasn't happy?!"

I look over at Brooke and she's not even trying to hold back her tears now.

"_we_ were there" Peyton says angrily. "_we_ were there for you. So don't you _dare_ call us bad friends!" she yells pointing a finger right in Brooke's face. She didn't bother to move from her angry position. "and by the way, what kind of _friend_ would accuse her friends of being bad if they did that?" Peyton says trying to get away.

"no. Hey! You don't get to walk away from me! And don't even try saying I'm a bad friend either, cause I was there for you too!" Peyton stops walking, but doesn't dare turn her back to face Brooke.

"yeah, now you stop walking, huh? As soon as I bring up what happened 2 years ago you stop walking!"

"Brooke, just leave it alone!" Rachel says more firmly trying to calm them down.

"shut up, Rachel! You're in this just as much as we are!" Brooke yells. Lucas and I are just standing beside each other watching the scene unfold.

"don't yell at her" Peyton says.

"why? Does _she_ think I'm a bad friend too? Because FYI was there for both of you, I was _there_. I was there when Rachel got pregnant at 16, I was there when she had to give up the baby in the hospital, just after giving birth to her child, and I was definitely there, holding your hand when you were talking to the police after that guy _raped _you! I was there for it all!"

"we were all there, Brooke!" Rachel yells, letting anger take over her. I can't believe all this stuff that I'm hearing. Abuse, pregnancy, rape… it's so much to take in right now. "look, we screwed up, we know that! But don't you dare say we weren't there for each other. We have all been, at some point, don't think for a second that you're better than the rest of us" Rachel says. They all just stand there for a moment, staring each other down, none of them willing to let it go.

Brooke couldn't take it anymore though. She shakes her head and walks around them, heading for our car. We all watch as she tries to get away.

"_don't you turn your back on us!"_ we all hear Peyton say. Brooke stops in her spot and turns back around to face her friends. "we made that rule for a reason, Brooke. We all stand by it, and you should too"

"that's where you're wrong" she whispers as she walks straight up to the two girls. "you broke that rule this morning" she says and walks away.

She gets in her car, not bothering to look back once. Not bothering to look back at the people who she used to call friends.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The four of us were left standing there as we watched Brooke drive away. I saw Rachel and Peyton link hands. They knew that their best friend just left them. They knew that without one of them they just weren't as strong. They knew that they meant nothing without her. Everyone knew that.

"look, guys…" I try to talk to them, but Peyton turns around and the phrase 'if looks could kill' comes to mind. Rachel doesn't even bother to look up. Both girls on the brink of crying, but refusing to let any more emotions out.

"no, let's get one thing straight. The only reason why we even _talked _to you was because Brooke liked you, but now that she's gone, we have no reason to even acknowledge you" Peyton snaps at me.

"come on Peyton, she was just trying to help" Lucas cuts in. I almost forgot he was there.

"Lucas, stay out of it" Peyton says trying her best not to be mean to him. Yeah, she totally likes him too. "come on Rach" Peyton says pulling her towards their cars. They both get in their own and Lucas and I watch two more girls drive away in pain.

"come on buddy, I'll take you home" Lucas says softly as he wraps one arm around my shoulders. I just let him take me to the car, all the time pondering the question 'What am I supposed to do now?'.

…

Lucas dropped me off at my place, both of us completely ignoring that school is still in session. I enter my house and start heading for my room, knowing that I just need to sleep right now and pray that when I wake up this nightmare will be over.

"aren't you supposed to be in school?" a voice asks me. I turn around to see Taylor wrapped up in a blanket eating cereal on my couch – watching TV.

"aren't you supposed to be working as a waitress in Connecticut?" I ask back.

She pauses for a moment, still not looking in my direction. "come talk to your sister" she says patting the seat beside her. So I step down from the stairs I'm on and sit down beside her. "what's wrong?" she asks, eyes still attached to the TV.

"Brooke just had a huge fight with her friends, that's all."

"oh, right, your girlfriend" she concludes.

"she's not my girlfriend"

"if you say so" she says holding the bowl of cereal in one hand and flips through the channels with the remote in the other. I take the spoon from the bowl and get a bite out of it. "what's going on between you two anyways?"

Might as well tell her, she knows something's up anyways. "we've been hanging out lately and getting close, but she's been having some problems with her friends and some people vandalized some things at school because of Brooke, and it just got out of hand really quickly"

"you couldn't have dated some chick with less problems, could you?"

"and make life easy? Never"

"so wait, is she angry at you?"

"no, I don't think so"

"so then why are you here? Go comfort your girlfriend" she says pushing me off the couch.

"I don't think she wants to talk to anyone right now" I say getting back on the couch. In fact I don't even want to talk about it right now. "have you talked to mom and dad lately?"

"no"

"what about Vivian and Quinn?" my other sisters.

"no, and I haven't talk to Jacob or Daniel either" she says listing our two older brothers.

"so how much money do you need this time?"

"I don't want any money… I just need somewhere to stay for a while"

"alright, well it's a two story house. Sleep anywhere but my room"

"why? You and Brooke get it on in there?"

"Taylor!"

"I'm kidding…" she says. "I'm sure you and Brooke get it on everywhere…" she mutters. I do the only thing I can do and swat her in the head with one of the couch cushions. I get up off the couch and head up to my room for that long awaited nap.

"hey, Haley-bub?"

"yeah?"

"I'm glad you found someone"

"… yeah me too." I just hope I won't let her go.

I spent all day in my room. I didn't eat or sleep, just got up to go to the bathroom and that's it. I've been staring at my phone all day waiting for Brooke to call. I tried calling her hours ago, but she wouldn't pick up. It's about 2:30am and I still can't sleep. I'm not even tired. All of a sudden I hear a tapping sound.

I remember that tapping sound. I jump out of bed and run to my window to find Brooke there. How she gets to my second story window I'll never know.

Without even saying hi I help her into my room, trying not to let her fall.

"I have a door you know"

"I know, but I didn't know how your sister felt about girls coming over in the middle of the night… can I sleep with you tonight?"

"of course, you're always welcome here." I say helping her out of her shirt. She just stares at me with a surprised look. "I know you hate restrictions" I say. She smiles and gets out of her jeans too.

"better?" I ask.

"yeah, but it'd make me feel even better if you lost your restrictions too" she says with a light smirk. I can't help but laugh at her trying to get me naked.

"how about a compromise? I'll take off either the shirt or my pants" I say with a smile.

"alright, lose the shirt then" she says helping me pull it over my head. As soon as the clothing hits the floor we crawl into bed and under the covers. I feel her wrap an arm around my stomach and I place my hand over hers. Her fingers trace small circles on my stomach and I know she's deep in thought.

"penny for your thoughts" I say.

"just thinking about today…"

"Brooke, you have to make up with your friends" her fingers stop moving.

"I don't know if I'm ready to" she whispers into my ear.

"haven't you guys ever fought and made up before?"

"yeah, but we've never fought like this. We never had the guts to bring up our biggest secrets like this"

"so no one else knows about the rape and pregnancy… and abuse?" I ask softly.

"no" she replies softly. Even through one word she manages to put forth so much emotion.

"Alex is…"

"Rachel's son" she answers me.

"and Peyton…"

"internet stalker gone bad" she says with pain in her voice.

"and your dad?"

"…he had a bad temper" Brooke says like it was nothing. "I remember it was the first time my dad hit me, I was 12, and I didn't know what to do. So I ran away to Peyton's house. She saw what happened and didn't really ask me about it. She invited Rachel over and we sort of had a slumber party. I don't even remember what we were talking about that night, but we stayed up all night pigging out on ice cream and having fun and laughing… and for those few hours I totally forgot about what happened. And for those few hours my friends made me feel happy, like nothing was wrong. They made me feel _better_"

"they're your friends, it's what they do best"

"but they didn't make me feel better this morning…"

"no, but they tried… until all hell broke loose. Brooke, what do you want to happen?"

"what do you mean?"

"for you to be happy, what do you want right now? What will it take?"

"I want to be at school, where no one hates me, I want my friends to be there for me when I need them and I want you to hold my hand through it all" she says quietly.

I look down at her hand on my stomach and lace my fingers with hers. "well one out of three ain't bad" I comment as we take a minute to let everything set in.

"thank you" she whispers and we both soon fall asleep, thinking things can only get better from here.

The next morning I woke up a few minutes early to grab some coffee. I woke up to the same position I fell asleep in, with Brooke's arm around me, my hand still in hers. I turn over in my bed and give her a loud, wet kiss on the cheek earning a groan out of Brooke. I laugh as I pull a tank top on and hop out my bedroom door, I silently shut it and leave Brooke sleeping. In the kitchen I find Taylor already sipping some coffee, still in her pyjamas and what looks like one of my sweaters.

"morning" she says.

"morning, I greet back" pouring myself some coffee. "what's on the schedule for today"

"I think I might walk around, see if there are any jobs available…"

"a job?" I ask surprisingly. "Taylor James working for someone else? That I have to get a picture of"

"too bad you'll be in school all day." Damn, she's right.

"what ever, I'll find a way" I say.

"you do that. In the mean time I'm going up stairs to get changed" she says heading up the stairs with her coffee still in hand.

"okay, just stay out of my room!" I yell, but at this point that might have been a mistake.

"why? Are you hiding something?" oh crap.

"no" I reply quickly. Probably too quickly.

"what is it Haley? Is it porn?" she asks already going up the stairs. I grab my coffee and try to chase after her. As soon as she sees me coming towards her she starts running too. "no, wait, it's drugs, _isn't it_!?" crap, when did she become so fast. If she finds Brooke in my room, half naked, I'm never going to live it down. She's at the top of the stairs and about to open my bedroom door.

"wait, I know, it's Brooke, _isn't it_!?" she says excitedly swinging the door open, expecting to see Brooke sleeping on my bed. I run up beside her and we both look into my room to see an empty bed and an empty room.

"what would make you think that?" I ask, now calm. Holy crap! Where the hell is she?!

"what ever, I'll find out what you're hiding later" she says. I watch her walk down the hall and into her room and I quickly shut my door and run over to my closet. I open the doors to see Brooke smiling and holding her clothes at the same time.

"well, _that_ was close" Brooke says dropping her clothes on the floor and walking closer to her. I'm so glad Taylor's not smart enough to look in the closet.

"do I get a good morning kiss?" I ask slyly. She smirks and leans in closer to press her lips down to mine. Just as our mouths finally meet my bedroom door swings open.

"I knew it!" Taylor yells, seeing Brooke only in her sleeping gear. Brooke pulls back and steps behind me to conceal her body.

"Taylor, get out!"

"nothing gets by Taylor James" she says referring to herself in the third person. Loser. "plus, I saw her car parked on the curb"

"out!" I yell again. She laughs and closes the door as she exits my room. I turn around to face Brooke who is right in front of me. "sorry, my sister has a problem with privacy"

"mhm" she yells pressing her lips down onto mine.

"mmkay, we have to get ready now" I say with my lips still pressed against Brookes"

"mm mm" she disagrees.

"mmhmm" I reply. She's in a surprisingly good mood since yesterday. "we have to fix everything between you and your friends, and get started on that life you want"

"can't we start tomorrow?" she groans as she finally breaks the kiss and takes a seat on the bed.

"no, I have a feeling it's going to take a while to get your friends back, so we better start early"

"but what if I'm not ready to accept them back?"

"Brooke, if that's what you're wondering you have to ask yourself where would you rather be… facing this whole vandalism thing on your own, or back with Rachel and Peyton? You and I both know that you need them just as much as they need you…"

We went to school in Brooke's car today, parking in a different spot than usual. It turns out that our school doesn't want to display any sort of vandalism so they got rid of the cement block and paved over Brooke's spot. We head towards the school, and on the way we see Lucas and Nathan. We meet up with them and join them in a small circle.

"morning boys" I say.

"morning" they reply together.

"hey Brooke" Lucas acknowledges her.

"hey Luke" she says meekly. I forgot Lucas knows just as much as I do.

"how are you doing?"

"fine" she answers. We all know when someone says they're fine it means anything but.

"that's good" he answers. Just simple conversation. "Nate here's a little bummed that he missed a girl fight yesterday" he said trying to get a rise out of her. Just then Peyton and Rachel walk up behind us and 'accidentally' knock Brooke in the shoulder. Peyton turns back only to glare at me and Brooke and then continues walking into the building with Rachel.

"well stick around, you may see another one later" Brooke said as she and I head into the school after the two girls.

As soon as we were inside we looked around for Rachel and Peyton but they were no where in sight. But we did see everyone staring back at us. That vandalism really made people rethink their decision. Well, that and they probably heard about the elites 'break up', temporary break up, that is. Wow, it sounds like they're in a relationship.

"hey are you going to be okay going to class with Rachel and Peyton?" I ask.

"yeah… I'll be fine" she says hesitantly.

"are you sure?" I ask.

"yeah, don't worry about me"

"okay, well if you need me I have my phone on. I'm just going to ask a friend of mine if he knows anything about the spray paint thing"

"alright. I'll see you at lunch then?"

"yeah, definitely. Bye"

"bye"

I left Brooke in the hall as I went to look for Mouth, he seems to usually know something about everything. I found him sitting in the library just reading a book by him self. I take a seat next to him and he finally looks up.

"Hey Haley" he says with a smile.

"hey Mouth, listen I wanted to know if you knew anything about Brooke's parking spot"

"oh yeah, I saw that. That was pretty vicious"

"any idea who it was?"

"uh, let's see. My sources tell me it's some guy in our class that's had a crush on Brooke for like 4 years now. I'm thinking the guy just snapped when he heard about Brooke"

"do you know his name?"

"no sorry, there's too many guys who have had a crush on Brooke to narrow it down. But I bet Brooke or one of the elites would be able to tell you"

"alright, I'll try them then, thanks Mouth. You're my hero" I say and give him a kiss on the cheek. Just as I'm leaving the library to go find Brooke the bell rings. I guess I'll have to talk to Brooke later. But for now, on to Math.

I enter the class room just before the final bell rings and take my seat up front beside Lucas.

"hey" he greets me. Maybe he knows something.

"hey, by any chance do you know any guy who's had a crush on Brooke for 4 years or so?" I know, it's a really random question.

"um the only person who comes to mind is Joey Grewal" he says.

"Joey Grewal?" I repeat, I have no idea who the hell that guy is.

"yeah, he's this huge slime ball that thinks he's all that, but he never gets invited to any of the elite's parties. Why do you ask?"

"it's just Mouth said that the guy who spray painted Brooke's parking spot had a crush on Brooke. Do you think Rachel and Peyton know it was most likely him?"

"maybe, I don't know…" we go back to paying attention in class. About halfway through I get bored, well because it's math and all, I find my self looking out the windows. The math room's got a pretty good view of the quad area. There's the nice green grass, bright blue sky, Brooke, the stoners, etc… wait, Brooke? I thought she was in class. What is she doing out there sitting alone?

I discretely take out my cell phone and start texting her.

_What r u up 2?_ I text, come on Brooke, don't lie to me.

_**Nthing**_ she texts back. At least she isn't lying.

_How's class?_

_**Boring without u**_ she texts back. As sweet as that is, she just lied to me. I look out the window to see her playing with her cell phone, oblivious to my stares.

_Did u talk 2 P&R?_

_**They're not talking 2 me yet**_

_Did u even try 2 talk 2 them?_

_**Of course I did. I wouldn't lie to u! **_yeah right.

_Rly? Then y did u tell me u were in class when I can c u in the quad?_ I text her. As soon as she gets the message I see her look up and around to see where I am. She finally sees me and gives me an apologetic look.

_**I couldn't face them**_

_We'll talk next period_ I text her and put away my phone. I see her receive the message and nods to me through the window.

As soon as the bell rang I was the first one out of the room and I hurried out to meet Brooke outside. I found her sitting in the exact same place I saw her in from the window. I take a seat beside her and I'm sure to sit close, just for my benefit.

"hey" I say softly. She looks up and smiles at me. "so what happened?" I sigh.

"well see, it's a funny story actually, I was going to class when I saw them… and then bailed" yeah, hilarious.

"Brooke, you have to face them sometime"

"I know, but I don't want to. They're pretty pissed at me."

"you called them _bad friends_"

"hey, whose side are you on?"

"I'm on yours, and your side also wants your friends back, so I'm just trying to help" I say putting my arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer. She rests her head on my shoulder and just pouts. "oh, so I had a break through on our soon to be victim"

"you found out who spray painted my spot?"

"yeah, I think so. Does Joey Grewal ring a bell?"

"pft, only his own. That guy is so full of himself. He's been trying to date me for years" she says. "so it was him?"

"that's what I heard."

"good job, Veronica Mars. So what now?"

"um, I don't know, do you think Rachel and Peyton know?"

"I'm not su-" Brooke's response was cut short by my cell phone. Lucas was calling me.

"hold on." I tell her and answer my phone. "hello?"

"hey, come down to the parking lot, you're going to want to see this" he says.

"what?"

"the elites found out about Joey" he says and hangs up.

Without even telling Brooke where we're going I grab her by the wrist and drag her to the parking lot.

Despite Brooke's constant questions about where we are going I ignore her and pull her towards the parking lot. We see a big group of people all near the flag pole. We keep running and finally push our way through to see Rachel, Peyton, Nathan and Lucas surrounding a guy I suspect is Joey Grewal.

He's lying on the floor with Rachel's high heel shoes pinned against his neck.

"why?!" she yells angrily, pressing more pressure onto his neck, I don't even know if he can breathe.

"oh my god" Brooke says.

"why did you do it?!" Peyton yells as she crouches down beside his helpless body.

"Lucas do something!" I yell at him. He just looks at me and shrugs.

"I'm not getting in the middle of that" he says holding his hands up in the air.

"Nathan?"

"nuh uh" he backs away.

"Rachel, get off of him, you're suffocating him"

"good!" she yells, probably pressing harder onto his neck. He's got his hands on her shoe, trying to push her away but it's useless.

"do you think it's fun to torture other people?" Peyton asks him. "how would you like it if you felt like you didn't want to be who you were?!" she yells louder for everyone to hear. I'm surprised there are no teachers around here.

"Brooke, do something" I mutter to her.

"oh I will" she says as she goes in and kicks him in the side of the body.

"I didn't mean _that_!" I yell.

"what? He deserved it" she said angrily.

"hold on, I think he's trying to say something" Peyton says bending down to hear him closer. Rachel let's off a little and everyone quiets down to hear him.

"bitch" he manages to call Peyton. At the sound of the word Peyton nearly jumps at him, but Lucas is quick to grab her and hold her back.

"whoa there tiger" Lucas says making sure she doesn't get away.

"how dare you call her a bitch!" Rachel says twisting her shoe ever so slightly so that the point of her shoe is nearing is head. "and how dare you call anyone a dyke, let alone my best friend!"

"you want to know what it feels like to not want to be you?" Peyton asks as Lucas slowly lets her go.

"oh, we'll show you"

…

I don't know how they did it, but there he his. Hanging is head in shame. Somehow the elites managed to strip him of all of his clothes and duct tape him to the flag pole, with the word 'jackass' written in his crotch area, that is now covered by tape.

You can hear the laughter of the students surrounding him, mocking him. He tries to say something but his words are only mumbled as his mouth is also covered with tape.

"was this really necessary?" I ask Brooke.

"you know what this means don't you?"

"Joey Grewal is going to have some major hair removal when he gets down?"

"no… well yeah" she smirks. "but this means they still care about me!" she says referring to Rachel and Peyton. They're still pissed at her but she's right, they do still care about her. They wouldn't have gone to all of this trouble if it wasn't for her.

"hey you guys!" she yells as she waves frantically and runs over to Rachel and Peyton who are talking with Lucas and Nathan.

"what?" Rachel sneers back.

"thank you" she says going in for a hug, but Rachel and Peyton are quick to step out of the way. "oh come on you guys"

"no" Peyton says firmly.

"look, I know you miss me too. You wouldn't have beat his ass if you didn't" she says pointing up to Joey who is still attached to the flag pole.

"we only did this so that the elite name isn't disgraced" Peyton says.

"but-" Brooke starts.

"-stop" Rachel cuts her off. "just forget about it and move on" she says. And with that Peyton and Rachel walk away, arm in arm, minus their third part. I take this chance to walk up beside her and hold on to her arm for support.

"you okay?" I ask.

"they stood up for me… I know it. It's just going to take some time to win them back" Brooke states.

"alright, well we'll think of a plan to get them back"

"yeah…" I think it's really starting to sink in to Brooke that this just isn't any normal fight.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

We came back to my house during lunch, not even bothering to go to any of our classes. We didn't want to take any chances of getting in trouble for the whole Joey thing. I bet he's still up on that flag pole right now. Oh well.

So we're sitting in my kitchen trying to think of a plan, but drawing a blank.

"what if we kidnapped them?" Brooke asks.

"Brooke, I said think of a smart idea not an illegal one"

"well you keep turning down all of _my _'smart' ideas" she pouts. It's true, but in my defence I have no idea where we would get a gun, helicopter or an army of crazed rabbits from.

"well sorry to take all your fun away" I say sarcastically.

"okay, look, we know we want to talk to them and preferably in a public place, that way they won't cause a scene or start a fight…" Brooke says. That's not a bad idea.

"school?"

"nah, they're not afraid to start a fight there" she says. So true.

"the mall?"

"perfect!" she practically yells. "but how do we get them there?" she asks as she slumps back down into the chair. Thinking of plans are hard. Before I could suggest anything else I ear the door open and close quickly.

"Haley!" it's Taylor.

"in the kitchen" I yell back. She comes in with a smile and stops when she sees Brooke.

"hello Haley and Haley's girlfriend" she says. I just roll my eyes. Any other reaction and it would have been awkward.

"you're in a good mood"

"guess what James sister got a job!" this must be a trick question.

"Quinn?"

"ha ha" she says dryly. "yours truly is the new official bartender at Tric!" did she say Tric? I look over at Brooke and she just smiles back at me. I think we just found our way to get Peyton and Rachel to the mall.

"so Taylor…" I start off. "you know you're my favourite sister right?"

"I can only slip you free drinks when the owner's not around" she states right off the bat.

"no." I say, but may come in handy later. "do you know Peyton? She works at Tric."

"blonde emo chick?"

"that's the one" Brooke says standing up from her seat. "we need you to send her to the mall for work or something"

"why?"

"that's not important" Brooke says quickly. "just get her to the mall"

"how am I supposed to do that? I'm a bartender" Taylor says.

"okay, so send her to get some liquor" Brooke says thinking on the spot.

"send her to the _mall_… to get some _liquor_" she says slowly trying to get Brooke to see the flaw in her plan.

"okay, well send her to the beer store and then tell her you need tampons or something, does it look like I care?!" Brooke yells. Taylor stops and then looks at me.

"Haley, tell your girlfriend to stop yelling at me" Taylor says like Brooke's not even in the room.

"look, Tay, here's the plan. Tell Peyton to go to the beer store to pick up what ever you serve at the bar and then-"

"-she's underage" she cuts me off.

"oh okay" Brooke pipes in. "if she says she's underage just ask her if she has a friend who has a fake I.D. and get her to help too." That's where Rachel comes in.

"and then once she leaves call her and tell her you need something from the mall, and then we'll do the rest from there" I say.

"and why do you need her to go to the mall?"

"we need to talk to her" Brooke says.

"why not just talk to her then?"

"because making a plan and luring her into the mall is much more fun!" Brooke says sarcastically. "does it really matter?"

"no, I guess not. But one day I'm going to ask you to help me lure someone somewhere. And when that day comes, I better not hear any shit from you two" Taylor says. She's creepy sometimes.

So the plans in motion, if you're wondering. Taylor's at work and she called us 20 minutes ago to tell us she sent Peyton to the beer store to get what ever then to Wal-Mart to pick up some toothpaste. At least it's better than tampons. Since Peyton went to the beer store she needed Rachel's fake I.D., so now they are both at Wal-Mart shopping around.

"okay, let's make this quick, this place is closing in like 20 minutes" Brooke whispers to me as we crouch down behind a CD rack.

"okay, so how are we going to do this?" I ask.

"what?! I thought you knew what we were going to say!"

"me? You're the one who's trying to win them back!" I whisper back to her.

"shut up, they're coming. Get out there!" she says pushing me out right in front of the two girls. They both stop and stare at me for a second.

"hey guys" I say shyly.

"what are you doing here?" Peyton asks offensively.

"just… just uh, shopping for some… perfume" I say picking up a bottle of perfume from the shelf next to me.

"that's cologne" Peyton points out. I look at the bottle, and well I'll be damned. It is cologne.

"is Brooke here with you?" Rachel asks suspiciously.

"Brooke?" I scoff. "no, no she's not here she's at home… eating" eating? Why did I say eating? I could have said something believable like sleeping or crying over her friends… but no, I had to say eating. Both Rachel and Peyton raise an eyebrow at me. Oh god, they know! No they can't know, they're not that smart… are they?

"Brooke" they both sigh at the same time. Brooke slowly walks out form behind the CD rack. Maybe they are that smart.

"hey guys, what a coincidence…" she says shyly.

"save it" Rachel says. "come on Peyt, let's go" she says trying to pull her away. But I step in front of them both.

"hold on, hear Brooke out" I say. They both stop and I nod for Brooke to start talking. She gives me a head shake and I nod again. She shakes her head again, but I just push her forward so that she's closer to her friends.

"okay, look guys I shouldn't have called you bad friends…"

"you got that right" Peyton says as she leans back a little and crosses her arms.

"and I shouldn't have yelled your secrets out like that…"

"uh huh" Rachel says, trying to tell Brooke to continue.

"and well… you guys screwed up and you know it!" she yells quickly. Word of advice, when you're begging for your friends forgiveness, never - and I mean never, point out what _they _did wrong. Both Rachel and Peyton throw their arms up in the air in anger.

"Brooke!" I yell at her.

"what?!"

"typical, Brooke" Peyton states. "when something goes wrong you always blame someone else"

"that's not true!" Brooke defends her self. Peyton and Rachel start walking in the opposite direction, trying to get away from us. "look, I know I screwed up, I do! I made a fool out of myself and I completely insulted you guys but-"

"-that's right Brooke, _you_ insulted us" Rachel says, still trying to get away. We're weaving up and down the aisles. "but you didn't just insult us, what you said hurt. We have been there for you for as long as I can remember and you know we would do anything for you. But when you called us bad friends, it was just too far."

"I know, and I feel terrible for it. I was… just angry and I couldn't control myself. You know how I can get sometimes"

"we know" Peyton says. "cause that's the kind of friends we are"

I look down at my watch, trying not to fall behind with the rest of the girls. "uh, guys we need to get going… this place is closing soon" we have like 5 minutes left. But what do I get? Ignored.

"I know, you're amazing friends, no one has better friends than I do. But I need those amazing friends back. You guys beat that Joey guy today and I know it was for me. Don't even try to say it wasn't, cause I know it was. You guys still care about me, admit it."

"okay fine!" Rachel yells. "we dealt with him because we still care about you. But everything you said to us before makes us think you don't care about _us_"

"hey, hey, hey" Brooke says softly, stepping in front of them to stop them. "I care about you guys more than anything in the world. You're my family. My _only _family. We've always been there for each other and I'm not about to stop that tradition."

"god, Brooke you don't get it. It's not that you said we're bad friends… it's that you meant it" Peyton says pushing Brooke away and trying to head for the exit of the store. We're in the middle but it seems like we've walked around the whole place.

"guys… we better-" I start.

"-but I _don't _mean it..." Brooke says.

"guys we have like-" I start once again.

"-but you did at one point" Rachel points out.

"guys!" I yell, finally grabbing their attention.

"what?!" they all yell back together.

Just as if on cue all of the lights in the store go out and Wal-Mart is officially closed.

"_that_" I say referring to the lights.

"Help!" all four of us yelled at the same time. But it was no use, the manager had already gone and there were no security guards in sight. Don't they have night guards or something?

"great, this is perfect. I've got like a shit load of liquor in my car and now we're stuck in a fucking Wal-Mart" Peyton says angrily giving up on the front doors.

"why don't we just break the door and get out of here?" Rachel asks.

"and set off the alarm and tell the police officer what we're doing locked in a Wal-Mart?" Brooke says.

"good point" Rachel says being surprisingly nice. "but don't think for a second I'm not still angry at you" she's quick to retaliate.

"Taylor's going to be pissed about the liquor. She said it was important that I get it tonight" Peyton says, sitting down on one of the laundry detergent boxes on display.

"wait, Taylor? As in Haley's sister?" Rachel asks. Oh, please don't blow it.

"no, there's this new bartender at Tric named Taylor… and I doubt she's the same girl that your thinking of" Peyton says.

"Well I'm thinking of the girl who got drunk at our party and gave that guy a lap dance…"

"it can't be… unless" Peyton says slowly looking up at me and Brooke. Alright, I got this. Just keep a straight face Haley. Hey, it's actually working. I look over at Brooke and she's got that I-am-so-guilty face going on.

"you set us up?!" Peyton yells. I need to teach Brooke how to get a poker face.

"well how else was I supposed to talk to you?!" Brooke asks.

"nice Brooke, really nice" Rachel says pacing back and forth. "your stupidity has gotten us stuck in a Wal-Mart over night."

"hey, don't blame her, this was my idea too" I speak up.

"great, then you're both idiots" Peyton says.

"hey, don't call Haley an idiot!" Brooke defends me.

"well I can't help it if your half schemed plans back fire on us all!" Peyton yells, this time standing up to get in Brooke's face.

"shut up Peyton! We didn't intend to get locked in here"

"no. I'm sure it happened naturally. Why do you think we keep you out of the planning part of the plans" Peyton says nastily.

"you know, I'm getting sick and tired of you tearing me down every 2 seconds" Brooke argues.

"well I wouldn't have to if you would just grow some _brains_" Peyton says.

"that's it!" Brooke mutters angrily and she lunges at Peyton and knocks her to the floor. Oh Nathan's going to be pissed when he hears what he missed.

"guys get off of each other" Rachel says, trying to pull Brooke off of Peyton. They've both got a grip on each other's hair and neither looks like they're going to let go any time soon.

"Haley, help me" Rachel says. I grab a hold of Brooke and she grabs Peyton and we pull them away from each other.

"guys, this is getting ridiculous, can't you solve your problems in a honest and civilized manner?" I say. Just then all three girls stop and look at me, then back at each other. What the hell is going on?

"blind and disabled!" they all yell at the same time. Blind and what now?

"I don't think now's the time to be calling each other names" I say.

"no, Blind and Disabled. It's this game we created when we were younger" Brooke says.

"we couldn't drive so we would always go to the parking lots in the mall and steal a couple of shopping carts." Peyton says. So it's a game? I'm a little afraid to ask why they call it blind and disabled.

"so we're agreed?" Rachel asks. "you and Haley against me and Peyton?"

"it's on. For once I will prove to you I am so much more than just a hot body and a good friend" Brooke says making Peyton and Rachel scoff.

"what ever, you guys get the carts while Peyton and I get the blindfolds" Rachel says. Blindfolds? What the hell kind of game is this.

"fine!" Brooke says grabbing me by the hand and pulling me towards the shopping carts.

"Brooke what the hell is this game and how did you get me involved?" I ask.

"okay look, Blind and Disabled is this game we invented. One person is in the cart and the other person is pushing them through the area, sort of like a race. The only problem is the person who is pushing the cart is blindfolded and the person who is _in_ the cart has to give directions to the driver. First person to cross the finish line wins" this sounds dangerous.

"you're kidding me right?" I ask as Brooke pulls out a cart and pushes it towards me and then she pulls out another one.

"nope" she says and we walk back towards the middle of the store. We meet Rachel and Peyton in the post they left and they have a couple of handkerchiefs in hand.

"alright, first ones to go through frozen foods section, passed the sports section, weave through the shoe racks and finish with getting passed the cash registers." Rachel lists off.

"deal?" Peyton asks.

"deal" Brooke answers as we head to the start line.

"Brooke, what do you get out of this if we win?" I ask hypothetically as I see her put on the blindfold.

"don't worry, it'll work out" she promises me. "now, get in the cart" she says. I see Rachel put the blindfold on and Peyton climb into the cart I follow and get into my cart. This can't turn out good.

"on the count of three" Peyton says looking at me. "one… two…" before I know it Rachel has already started pushing the cart and they have a head start. "three!" Peyton yells, sticking her tongue out at me.

That's it. It's on.

**Ooh, cliffhanger! Sort of. What ever. So next chapter I'll finish up the race game thing. (which btw I came up with all by myself!) I'm proud. I hoped you like this chapter. If you did, keep reading.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"go Brooke!" I yell and I feel Brooke start pushing the cart. We're heading down the frozen food aisle that's lit up by the lights from the freezers at the side. I see Peyton and Rachel turn left and when we get to that point I start talking to Brooke.

"go left… _now_!" I yell and right away Brooke turns left and we almost knock over a stack of sodas. "faster, they're way ahead!" games always make me competitive. I feel Brooke speed up and we start catching up to Rachel and Peyton.

We're passing the basket balls, then the hockey sticks, then the baseball bats and we're finally caught up to them.

"left!" Peyton and I yell at the same time and our carts almost collide. Maybe I should have worn a helmet. We're heading down one of the longer aisles in the store and it's pretty much a staring contest between me and Peyton.

"Rachel, go right" Peyton says in a calm tone. Rachel turns the cart to the right a little and knocks in to our cart causing us to skew and crash into the wall. A couple of footballs fall into the cart.

"what the hell was that?" Brooke asks trying to get back on track.

"just a little incentive for revenge" I say. "come on, go left" I say. We turn down an aisle no longer following Rachel and Peyton. I can hear Rachel's feet still running. We head down another hockey aisle and I grab a hockey stick along the way. We pop out of the aisle and we're running down an aisle parallel to Peyton and Rachel's. I see Peyton staring back at me every time there's an open aisle between us.

We finally meet together to head into the shoe racks.

"turn right!" I say. Brooke turns the cart right with a screech and we're weaving in and out of the shoe aisles just like Rachel and Peyton, just in different aisles.

"left… forward… right… forward" I keep saying this over and over again so that we get into a pattern. Just as we make it out of the shoe racks Rachel and Peyton are just to our left, but a few feet ahead. I grab the hockey stick out of the cart and I toss it in front of Peyton's cart. They nearly do a flip as they almost trip over the wooden stick. From about 10 feet ahead I turn around and stick my tongue out at Peyton.

Next thing I know we're practically running down the final aisle with the beds around us. I see Peyton and Rachel make their way beside us but Peyton grabs a pillow from one of the beds and hits me in the head with it.

I look at her in shock but she just smiles.

"Haley, what's going on?" Brooke asks me.

"nothing, just keep going straight, we're almost at the cash registers" I say grabbing a pillow from a bed and hitting Peyton in the head too. I can't help but smirk as I see her reaction. I know she's trying her best to hold in her smile, but she's doing a terrible job.

She hits me again, and I hit her again, and now we're both smiling like crazy. Picture this. Four nearly grown girls, two of them pushing a shopping cart blind folded, the other two, in the shopping cart having a pillow fight. Yeah, I'd be laughing too.

Peyton and I are just whacking each other continuously and now we can't help but laugh. I glance down the aisle and I see a wall then glance back at Peyton. Wait, a wall?

"stop!" I yell as loud as possible and Brooke and I stop just as we pass the cash registers and I watch Peyton and Rachel run into the brick wall head on. Their cart falls over to the side and Peyton crawls out. Brooke and Rachel take off their blindfolds to see what happened.

Brooke and I are basically laughing our asses off as I get out of the cart and we walk over to them. They're on the floor probably in pain from hitting a wall and they just stare at us back. I'm sorry, but this is just too damn funny and I think Peyton is getting angry at me for laughing.

I'm practically rolling in laughter when I feel a pillow hit me in the side of the head. I look over at Peyton who's holding the pillow not even trying to hide.

"that's it!" I yell and hit her back with mine. Brooke laughs at Peyton getting hit and Peyton hits her too. Then Rachel laughs and I hit her. Before we know it, we're all laughing so hard as Peyton chases Brooke with a pillow and I chase Rachel.

Eventually we all run into each other back in the middle, each of us with a pillow of our own and we continue to hit each other. But soon we can't even swing the pillow as we're laughing so hard. We all fall onto a huge king size bed as we calm down from laughter.

Soon the laughter becomes quieter and quieter and soon it's nothing but an awkward silence.

"so… who won?" Brooke asks casually. Peyton swings her pillow over and hits Brooke in the face just making us all burst out in laughter again.

…

I don't know how it happened, but it did. The elites are no longer fighting. In fact, I think they're getting along better than before.

So, we decided to make the best of getting locked in here and we moved to the camping section. We decided against calling anyone rigfht now, knowing the manager would probab;y call the cops anyways. So we figured we'd just hide out in here until morning. There's a tent set up so we decided to bunk in there for the night. Brooke said she always wanted to go camping so we're taking this opportunity now.

It's the four of us lying in there, with me, beside Brooke, who is beside Peyton, who is Beside Rachel. I'm surprised we fit four people in here.

"…okay, that so wasn't my fault! Peyton told Rachel to ram our cart!" I say in defence.

"and then Haley here decided to throw a hockey stick in our path" Peyton retells our tale.

"is that what that was? I thought we ran into something!" Rachel says.

"aw Haley, likes to play dirty" Brooke says. Everyone goes silent. Before Brooke can take it back Rachel and Peyton let out an 'eww'. "hey, don't say ew, she's just like us, she plays dirty."

"it's true" Peyton and Rachel say together as let out a small giggle.

"but the best part was when Rachel and Peyton hit the wall" I say.

"oh my god, that hurt so much!" Rachel complains. "Peyton, the reason you don't have a blindfold on is so that you can see where we're going"

"well, I was a little occupied seeing as _someone _was hitting me with a pillow!" she says towards me.

"you started it!" I say.

"is that where the pillows came from?" Brooke asks. "I was wondering how you guys got those."

"you're just lucky I didn't grab a bat instead" I say jokingly and we all start laughing. My sides are starting to hurt from laughing so much.

After a few more minutes I slip out of the tent to go to the bathroom. But instead I stay outside of the tent to hear the laughter of Brooke and her friends, I'm so glad everything's okay now. Brooke is a lot happier with them around.

Instead of going back in the tent I take a seat and lean back and look at the fake fire in front of me, just happy to listen to Brooke being happy. They're basically talking about nothing, but still that's how you know the conversations going good… when you can talk about everything and nothing at the same time.

"so are you and Haley dating or what?" Rachel asks and Peyton starts laughing.

"shut up!" Brooke yells jokingly and starts laughing too. I see Brooke's silhouette stand up in the tent and walk out side. She sees me and walks over and sits down beside me. We can hear Rachel and Peyton just continue with their regular conversation.

"hey, what are you doing out here?"

"nothing… just giving you and your friends a few minutes alone" I say. She extends her legs and sits in the same position I do as we stare into the fake fire. "how did you know the race was going to make everything better?" I ask.

"I didn't" she says simply. "but a friendship like ours doesn't go away that easily." I lean against her and rest my head on her shoulder.

"so is it over now? All of the drama?"

"probably not…" she answers and I smile. I kind of figured. Just as we finally settle into the silence Peyton and Rachel step out of the tent.

"we were wondering where you went" Peyton says.

"no you didn't" Brooke says back. Peyton freezes and then smiles at Brooke.

"you know me too well" she says. Rachel and Peyton take a seat beside Brooke and now we all stare into the fake fire.

"you guys realize that's not real right?" Rachel asks, we all just turn our heads to stare at her then look back at the fire.

"hey… do you guys think we set off any silent alarms playing blind and disabled?" Peyton asks. We take a second to think but no one answers.

"I don't think so. The alarms are usually only set off when you open a door or walk through a certain door frame" I answer.

"okay" Peyton replies happily. "I'm hungry, I'm going to grab some ice cream!"

"bring me back some too!" Brooke calls after her. I watch as Peyton walks down the frozen food aisles and looks into the clear glass doors of the freezers, but then something clicks in my head. If she opens one of those doors, the alarm might go off.

"Peyton, wait!" I yell, but it's too late, she opened the door a crack and a quiet alarm is sounded. We all get up and start freaking out.

"Peyton!" we all yell at her. She drops the ice cream and points to the exit at the back of the room. We all follow her lead and run as fast as we can to the emergency exit. We run through the door, down a long hall and out the back door to the building, just as we step out side we see 2 police cruisers pull up to us.

We freeze in fear as the cops get out of their car and point their flashlights at us.

"you just had to get ice cream, didn't you?" Brooke asks.

…

We're in jail. JAIL! I can't believe this! I've never been in jail, and I never planned on going, but no one has. Well except for that guy from prison break, but what ever. We were all given orange jump suits and placed into a cell together.

Fuck, this place is creepy.

"okay, you get one phone call" the female police officer says to us. Rachel, Peyton and Brooke all turn their heads and look at me.

"what?" I ask. What the hell are they looking at? Oh wait, they want me to call someone don't they? "oh, no!"

"come on Haley" Rachel starts. "none of us have any family that can bail us out."

"Peyton, why don't you just call Lucas?" I ask, we all know there's something going on between them.

"um first of all, I don't even know why you would think _I _would call Lucas Scott. Second of all, it wouldn't matter because he's not an adult yet and can't bail us out."

They want me to call Taylor.

"please Haley" Brooke practically begs.

Oh she knows I have a weakness for her, that's not fair. "… fine" I give in. The guard lets me out of the inner cell and leads me over to the payphone. She puts in the quarter for me and hands me the telephone receiver. I dial the home number and within a few rings Taylor picks up.

"hello?"

"hey, Tay" I say.

"Haley, where are you? I thought Wal-Mart closed like 3 hours ago"

"well it did… but see we kind of got locked in and we set off the alarm."

"Haley…" I think she can sense what's coming.

"we need you to bail us out of jail" I say quietly.

"Haley! All you had to do was talk to these girls! And now you're in jail?! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I know, I know, can you just come and pick us up, please?"

"fine. I'll be there in 20 minutes" she says still angry. I hear the phone click and I hang up too. I'm led back to the cell and locked back in.

"and?" Peyton asks.

"she's coming" I say. I still don't see why I had to be the one to call. I take a seat on the only bench in the cell, while Peyton, Brooke and Rachel all talk a few feet away. I can hear them muttering something and see them nudging Brooke.

"go" Rachel whispers discretely to Brooke. But apparently not discretely enough for me not to hear.

"no!" Brooke whispers back.

"just do it" Peyton urges her. Seriously, do they think I can't hear them?

"no, stop" Brooke repeats.

"what's the worse that could happen?" Rachel asks, fully pushing Brooke over to me. What does she want now? I mean I am bailing her out of jail. Brooke glares at her friends and takes a seat next to me.

"hey can we talk?" she asks me.

"sure" I say in more the form of a question. We both look up at Peyton and Rachel who are watching our moves intently.

"do you mind?" Brooke asks and they get the hint. They take a step back and hit the wall of the cell. I forgot how small this place is. Peyton and Rachel are still obviously listening in.

"what's up?" I ask.

"nothing really…" that's a lie. "well me and you we've been… you know, for a while now" is she asking what I think she's asking? "we hang out a lot and stay over at each other's houses and you've been there for me through everything pretty much, and of course there's the kissing…"

"of course" I say with a smile.

"you were there for me when I wanted to go to the carnival and ride the Ferris wheel-"

"-and every other ride" I cut in.

"yes. And you were there when I would wake up in bed and not too mention you actually took a chance eating the food _I _cooked"

"… that ketchup really worked some magic" I add in.

"well, now that most of the drama is kind of out of the way there's nothing holding me back" she carries on.

"holding you back from what?"

"…from asking you to be my girlfriend" she states and looks into my eyes.

"you're seriously asking me to be your girlfriend… while we're in prison?" I ask. She smirks and looks around the cell as if she's just taking it in for the first time.

"well I thought it'd be a cute story for our friends… that is if you say yes" Brooke says shyly and looks away. I grab her hand and lace my fingers with hers forcing her to look back at me.

"yes" I whisper. "yes, I would love to be your girlfriend" I say softly. And there it is, that small nose crinkle she gets. I melt every time I see it. She starts moving in slowly and so do I.

"awww!" Peyton and Rachel can't help but say. Brooke and I pull back and look at them.

"you know that just totally ruined the moment" Brooke states.

"we know, but that's what friends are for" Rachel shrugs making Peyton laugh. Before Brooke and I can get back to what we were doing a flash goes off in the cell. We all look in the direction of the flash and see Taylor holding up a camera.

"this is totally going in the family photo album" Taylor says excitedly as she views the picture she just took. I've got to find a way to get that camera.

"Taylor, just get us out of here!" I say.

"yeah, I want to get out of here before this turns into a 'women-in-prison' movie" Rachel says.

"okay, okay" she says waving over one of the guards. He comes over with his ring of keys and lets us out of the cell. Rachel and Peyton exit first, right behind Taylor and I'm about to follow when Brooke pulls me back. She presses me against the bars of the cell, inside, and lightly touches her lips against mine.

"I just thought our first kiss as a couple should be somewhere cute too" she says as she pulls back slowly. I smile and she grabs my hand and we walk out of the jail cell, hand in hand.

Now, _this_ would be a much better picture for the photo album.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

As soon as we got home from prison it was about 2:30am. I entered the house with Taylor following closely behind, discussing the events and photographs taken over the course of the last hour.

"oh and then there's this one where I got a picture of me and the police officer" she says proudly as she shuffles through the pictures she took. I just ignore her and continue my venture up the stairs. I go to my room, shut the door, not even bothering to change my clothes I flop down on the bed and fall asleep instantly. Just as I'm drifting off into dream land the only thing I can think of is Brooke Davis.

Brooke Davis, my girlfriend.

……………..

The next morning I wake up to a slight pressure on my lips. You can only imagine who it is. I slowly open my eyes as they adjust to the light in the room and I see a smiling brunette in bed beside me.

"when did you get here?" I ask, still trying to wake up.

"about 30 seconds ago" she says happily. It is not possible to be this happy at 7:00 o'clock in the morning. She leans in for another kiss pressing a little harder to get to me sooner.

"mm, if I didn't know any better I'd say you're taking advantage of me" I say, pulling back from her lips by no more than a couple of inches.

"well I'm allowed to. It's part of the rules" more rules?

"the rules huh? And what rules are those?"

"the unwritten rules of the girlfriend. Rule number two clearly states that I can kiss you when ever I like"

"if that's rule two then what's rule one?" I ask.

"rule number one states that as your girlfriend, it is my job to give you a ride to school every day"

"ooh, good rule" I say in a husky voice. She smiles and leans in for another kiss.

"okay, now, you are-" Brooke starts, but the door quickly swings open and we see Taylor jump in.

"-so busted!" she yells. Brooke and I just fall back into the bed and lay there trying to mentally get rid of her. "didn't I _just_ bail you out of jail this morning?" she asks Brooke. Brooke just groans back in return. "Haley, I think you need to teach your girlfriend how to sneak into the house, cause I could hear her from down stairs when I was making pancakes." Did she just say pancakes? Brooke and I quickly jump out of the bed and run for the door. But, just as soon as Brooke is out the door and heading down the stairs Taylor steps in my way and stops me from getting those delicious pancakes.

"hold up there mini-me" she says.

"what? I'm hungry"

"so you and Brooke now, huh?" she asks curving the side of her mouth ever so slightly. I turn my head away shyly and give her my answer. I'm expecting some sort of joke back, but it never comes. "Just be careful, okay?" I look up at her and stare at her. Is it possible that this is my sister? The same girl who only hours ago sent an underage girl to by liquor and bailed me out of jail, be all caring and sensitive.

"I will" I whisper back.

"so, do I have to give Brooke one of those talks from the older sister"

"uh no" I say like it's obvious.

"these pancakes are awesome!" Brooke yells from down stairs and Taylor and I both laugh.

"well, I might just have to give her the talk about _eating my pancakes! _" Taylor says turning around and heading for the stairs. "race ya!" she yells and starts running. It takes me a second to realize what she said, but soon I start running after her.

…………………….

Brooke and I arrive at school, now full of pancakes, and parking in her regular spot. We get out of the car and I realize something. Everything just seems so different. The elites are back together, Brooke is out and happy, she and I are dating, and it's like everything's changed.

But the thing is… everything's changed for the better.

Brooke walks up beside me and holds my hand as we enter the school together.

"so now that we're together does this mean we can do all of the cute couple-y stuff other couples do?"

"depends on what" I reply.

"something like holding hands?" she asks.

"yes" I nod.

"kissing in public?"

"of course" I nod again.

"cute pet names?"

"hmm, as long as it doesn't start with tutor, or end with girl" I answer and she frowns.

"but that was a good name… okay how about tootsie roll?"

"that's worse than tutor girl"

"honey bee?"

"that's just… sad"

"sweet cheeks?" she asks with a smirk.

"not a chance in hell" I say. She stops me in the middle of the hall and turns to me. She's standing so close and I love it.

"how about my naughty little school girl?" she asks slyly.

"hm… not in public"

"ooh" she replies in her husky voice. She leans in and gives me a quick peck on the lips, then another one, then another one, and now she's just full on kissing me passionately.

"whoa, uh, what did I miss between yesterday and today?" Lucas interrupts us.

"a lot" Brooke and I reply at the same time.

"wow, kissing _and_ talking in unison… you two _must_ be dating" Lucas replies. Brooke lifts our clasped hands together just to prove him right. "that's great, I'm happy for you two" he says. "and now that you're together you can help me and Peyton get together" he says rubbing his hands together. Brooke just rolls her eyes as I smirk. "please, please, please. I know she likes me, that much is obvious, but I just need a little help from oh say… her best friend?" he says looking directly at Brooke.

"look, we'll help you on one condition…" I offer.

"what?" he asks suspiciously.

"say it" I say.

"no" he replies quickly.

"come on… say it" I taunt him

"Haley, this is ridiculous, I'm not going to say it" he says. Brooke soon caught on to what we were talking about.

"do you want our help or not?" Brooke asks.

"fine" he grumbles. "iyveacrshnptnsr" he mutters.

"sorry what?" I ask putting my hand up to my ear.

"_I have a crush on Peyton Sawyer_" he says in defeat. Brooke and I only try to hold in our laughter. "are you happy?"

"_so _happy" I say laughing along with Brooke.

"so you're going to help?"

"please, I was already helping Peyton before you even asked" Brooke says as she turns back to me. "I'm going to class, see you later my little chocolate chip muffin" she says giving me a kiss on the cheek. I roll my eyes and watch her go.

"chocolate chip muffin?" Lucas asks.

"shut up, Mr. I-have-a-crush-on-Peyton" I tease him back.

"…shut up" he replies back as we turn to head for Math.

…………

At lunch Brooke and I found an open table together and decided to talk about Lucas and Peyton before anyone else showed up.

"so how are we going to play matchmaker?" I ask.

"well I was thinking… since both of them like each other just don't have the guts to do anything about it we should set them up at the Halloween party at Tric, next week"

"there's a Halloween party at Tric next week?" I ask.

"yeah, the elites unofficially host one ever year… with Karen's permission of course."

"wait, how come I didn't know about this?"

"I don't know… just slow I guess"

"gee, thanks" I say sarcastically.

"you know I'm only kidding, oompa loompa"

"oh god, that's an insult not a pet name"

"hey, nick names are not as easy as they seem" she defends herself.

"whatever. Why don't we get them two costumes that go together and they can meet at the party"

"hm, I like it" Brooke declares.

"so, now that that's settled… what are you going as?"

"I haven't decided yet… but I wouldn't tell you if I knew anyways"

"what? Why?"

"well because then that would just ruin the surprise"

"fine, then I'm not going to tell you my idea…" I threaten back. Even though I don't have an idea yet.

"that's fine, you'll probably end up letting it slip to Rachel or Peyton and they'll tell me" she says with confidence. Maybe I could get Rachel and Peyton to help me pick out a costume. They would know what Brooke likes, right?

"don't count on it."

"just you wait and see Haley James"

………………

After school that day I told Brooke I was busy with tutoring and couldn't spend time with her. I wanted to, but I need help. So instead of going to tutoring I went straight home.

"Tay you home?" I call out.

"yeah, not too many people are into hardcore drinking at 3 in the afternoon" she states from the couch.

"okay. Um I have-" I'm interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Taylor yells jumping over the couch to run to the door before me. "I bet it's you're _hot_ girlfriend" she teases me. She finally opens the door to see two other girls. "meh, I was close… it's her duplicates" she says shrugging, letting the girls into the house.

"so you text us?" Peyton asks.

"yes. So I heard about the Halloween party next week and I need help thinking of a costume"

"and you want our help, why?" Rachel asks.

"cause you're Brooke's friends and I want to impress her"

"aww" Rachel, Peyton and Taylor all say fakely.

"yeah, what ever, just help" I say leading them into the living room with Taylor. "so any suggestions"

"Brooke's easy, all you need is something sexy" Rachel says.

"you mean slutty…" I state.

"no" Peyton disagrees. "sexy" she corrects me.

"Peyton, sexy is just slutty with class" I say.

"well then I guess you're a classy slut, get over it" Peyton says. "so I was thinking maybe the whole angel in a bikini thing."

"nah, I always kind of pictured Brooke going for the cheerleader thing" Taylor chimes in.

"okay, no, you're both way off" Rachel says. "Brooke sees cheerleaders all the time, she is one. And Brooke's not into the whole innocent angel thing."

"so then what should I do?" I ask.

"I think I have the perfect outfit…"

The next day during chem. Mouth, Rachel, Peyton, Brooke and I were all working on an assignment together, but it seemed Brooke was more interested in me than the experiment. But I can't blame her for that.

"oh, guess what?"

"you really do have handcuffs" she guesses.

"no" well yeah. Shh. "I picked my outfit out for the Halloween party"

"ooh, what is it?"

"yeah right" I reply.

"fine, I'll just ask Rachel and Peyton"

"don't bother, they're sworn to secrecy" I say mysteriously.

"secrecy, huh? We'll see about that" Brooke replies with a smirk. I know she's up to something.

"so what are we doing after school today?" I ask.

"um actually, me, Peyton and Rachel and the rest of the cheerleading squad are holding freshman tryouts for the year since the sports are under way and everything."

"oh" there goes any plans we had together.

"but you could always come and watch and we could hang out afterwards" she offers. And now I have thoughts of Brooke in a cheerleading uniform dancing around and doing the splits and stuff like that, and I'm starting to like this idea.

"yeah, sure. As long as I get to watch you" I say slyly.

"well you can watch all you want and maybe afterwards I'll give you a free preview for the season or something" she replies back, just as slyly.

"sounds like I plan" I say in quietly as I lean in closer to her. "but I might be a couple of minutes late, I have to drop off a test I borrowed from the tutor centre"

"alright, it'll just give me more time to talk to the newbies. God, I love scaring the freshman"

………………

After class I dropped off the stuff in the tutor centre and started heading towards the gym where I saw freshman after freshman enter the gym with their short-shorts and tight tops. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them had pig tails. I open the door to the gym so I can go inside but just before I enter the room a couple of girls cut in front of me and enter the gym before me.

They giggle at me as one of them looks back. They just get bitchier at every school. I finally enter the gym to see at least 30 girls with way too much make up on. I notice some of the older cheerleaders are talking in the corner, but none of them wearing their uniform, damn. They're all just wearing clothes they usually practise in.

I spot Brooke in the crowd and give her a small wave as I take a seat higher up on the bleachers behind all the girls who are about to try out. She blows me a kiss back and points to a bench closer to her for me to sit down on. I nod to her and make my way off the bleachers. But just as I'm about to hop off I once again trip over myself and tumble off the 3 foot high bleachers.

That was so not smooth.

A few girls who are trying out start snickering at me. I get up and dust myself off trying my best to ignore the future mean girls of the school. I'm about to finally start walking away when a girl intentionally sticks out her leg and trips me. I come crashing down to the floor. I look up to see the same girl who cut in front of me when we entered the gym.

"looks like someone needs to learn a little coordination" she says and the rest of the girls start laughing at me. I feel a couple of arms help me up, and it's not Brooke because they smell differently and the arms are much too feminine to be Lucas or Nathan. Once I'm up I look back to see it was Peyton and Rachel.

"you want to apologize to our friend here?" Peyton asks in more of a commanding way. Did she say friend? Weird. I know.

"not really" the freshman says making the girls behind her laugh again. Without hesitation Rachel gets Brooke's attention and waves her over. But I don't need other people to fight my battles. I can get my own jab in here and there.

"how old are you anyways? 10?" I ask and I can tell Peyton and Rachel are a little startled by my comment.

"excuse me?" she asks.

"oh sorry, am I speaking too fast for you?" I ask and slow down my words. "I said Hoooww oollddd aaarree yoo-"

"-no, I heard what you said" she say raising a hand to stop me from talking. "and by the way I'm 14"

"could have fooled me" I say looking her up and down. Just then Brooke jogs up towards us.

"is there a problem here?" she asks everyone out loud.

"just some fat-ass girl trying out for _freshman_ tryouts" the girl says. I bet her name is something stupid like Cindy or Mindy, or something that rhymes with it. Oh please let it be some porno name like Candy. Oh I would laugh at that. Wait. Angry Haley, be angry, this girls just called you a fat ass. _Bitch._

"whoa, whoa, whoa, I know you did not just call her a fat ass" Brooke says pointing to me. Oh this girl is so going to get it.

"yeah, I did. Who are you anyways?" ooh, she doesn't even know Brooke is. She's in for it now. Brooke scoffs and smiles in shock as she looks over to her friends who are just smirking along with Brooke.

"alright, you can leave now" Brooke says pointing to the door. Aw, is that it?

"excuse me? Do you know who I am?" she asks.

"pft, no, and frankly, I don't care either" Brooke says pointing to the door again.

"I'm Summer Reeves, previous captain of the Tree Hill middle school cheerleaders" she says proudly. Well her name wasn't Candy but Summer is just as bad.

"aw well isn't that nice. You probably would have made it too if you weren't so mean. Too bad we don't let bitches on the team" she says proudly.

"oh, then how did _you_ get on the team?" she asks and most of the girls behind her let out an 'oooh'. The ones who don't make a sound are obviously the girls who know who Brooke and her friends are.

"look here, you 14 year old midget, you insult Haley and then you insult me? There is no way in hell your scrawny ass is going to make this team" Brooke yells insultingly.

"well it's a wonder how your huge ass ever made the team in the first place!" the girl yells back, and Brooke who is obviously furious is about to attack the girl when she gets a glance at Peyton and Rachel, who's eyes are obviously telling her she's not worth it. "aw, look she's an obedient bitch too" the girl comments. I can't take this anymore. It's one thing to insult me, but to insult my girlfriend?

I take a step forward and slap the girl across the face. I can't believe I just hit a freshman. Without hesitation Summer retaliates and slaps me across the face, earning herself a punch in the face from Brooke. She stumbles back onto the floor and clutches her nose in pain. Within seconds she's back up on her feet and throws her self at Brooke, knocking her to the ground. I see Brooke slap her across the face, but then Summer rolls over on top of Brooke and slaps her back. I honestly don't believe my eyes. What is with us today? Picking fights with younger girls? This is crazy. Peyton, Rachel and I all watch as Brooke and Summer go at it, Brook obviously winning. I nudge Peyton and Rachel who catch on and pull the freshman off of Brooke. Brooke gets up smoothly as Rachel and Peyton hold _Summer _back.

"can't even win a cat fight… what kind of cheerleader are you?" Brooke asks, just aggravating her even more. She tries to get out of the elite's grip but she's too small. Rachel and Peyton push her towards the door, but don't actually throw her out.

"get out!" Rachel yells to her.

"says who?"

"_says us_" Peyton replies.

"you're kidding right? I'm going to be the future head cheerleader of this team and I'm not about to let a couple of pathetic girls get in my way" she says motioning to us. A little cocky aren't we?

"you honestly don't know who she is?" Peyton asks her. Summer just shakes her head in response as she leans back and crosses her arms.

"well good luck on getting on the squad now." Rachel says fakely. "you've managed to piss off _and_ slap the _head_ cheerleader…" she says pointing to Brooke. "and you've also managed to slap her _girlfriend_. Not to mention you've pissed _us_ off" she says pointing to herself and Peyton. "… her _best friends_ and _co-captains_"

"you're set for the rest of your high school career" Peyton says with a fake smile as we all watch Summer Reeves stomp out of the gym. Ha ha, bitch.

"are you okay?" Brooke asks cupping my face where the red hand print is.

"I could ask you the same thing" I say as I bring my hand up to where she also got slapped.

"you, go get two ice packs" Rachel barks at a now scared freshman girl. She runs out of the gym and within a couple of minutes she comes back with a two cold ice packs. Brooke and I each take one and press it to our faces.

I see Brooke's hand is a little bruised and I take my ice pack and grab her hands to help the swelling.

"well I think it's safe to say you've scarred her for life" I say.

"hey no one messes with my girl" she says with a smirk as she takes the ice pack off of her face and presses it lightly to mine. I take mine off of her hand and press it back to her face.

"god, you guys can't even hold your own ice packs?" Peyton asks, bring us over another ice pack for Brooke's hand. She tosses it to Brooke who puts it on with her free hand.

"listen we're going to start try outs, is that okay?" Rachel asks.

"yeah, I'll watch from over here with Haley" she says as she looks into my eyes with a smile.

"no it's okay, you go over and do your thing, you're the _head cheerleader_ after all"

"and you're my _girlfriend_. I want to sit here with you" she argues.

"no, now go" I say pointing to the seats where she is actually supposed to sit in. She gives me a pout but I do my best to ignore it. "go" I repeat. She finally gives in and heads back over with Rachel and Peyton, but not before she leans down and gives me a lasting kiss.

"yes m'am" she whispers and goes to tryouts. Wow, I just realized something, I'm dating the head cheerleader of Tree Hill high, the bisexual head cheerleader might I add. I'm living every guy's dream.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

You know what I love about walking down the school halls holding Brooke's hand? The looks we get. Now, to most people getting stared at by complete strangers would usually be intimidating. But not to me. Want to know why? Well, I'll tell you anyways. When I walk with Brooke, I feel good. I feel happy. The looks we get make me happy because I feel like people aren't disgusted by our relationship, but instead are envious.

I love that feeling.

I look over at Brooke who's right at my side, holding my hand, like nothing special is happening. "do you want to go out for dinner with me?" I ask randomly. Hell, _I_ didn't even see that one coming. She stops in the middle of the hallway, forcing me to stop as well.

"what?" she asks she asks with her little grin.

"well, I just kind of figured that since you're my girlfriend and I'm your girlfriend we should go out… like on a date"

"like a real date?" no a play date. I suppress my urge to use sarcasm and nod instead. "like our _first _date?" she clarifies once more.

"no, I think we should do our third date first, and then do our first date" I say sarcastically. I couldn't help it that time. But she still smiles anyways.

"yeah… okay, tonight?"

"sure… but just a simple date" I add.

"a simple _first _date? No such thing" she says as she starts walking again as if we're done our conversation.

"Brooke" I say calling her back as I pull her back by her hand and she turns around to face me. "simple" I say, making sure it gets through to her.

And there it is, her sad face. With her big brown eyes and her cute little pout. I hate when she does this. "no" I warn her, and she makes her face even cuter. I cover my eyes to block out her almost overly adorable face, but she manages to pull my hands away and takes a step closer to me.

"okay… fine" I give in and she gives me a smirk. She totally knew that would work against me. "but nothing too extravagant" I warn.

"yeah whatever" she murmurs back. Something tells me she didn't quite hear me. "well, I do believe this is your stop" she says as we approach my class room. "I'll pick you up tonight?"

"alright, what time?"

"7:00?"

"sounds good"

"okay, I'll see you later" she says with a small wave and heads around the corner. Something's missing. I stand here and wait for it, knowing she's going to remember in 3…2…1. And there she is, popping back around the corner. She quickly jogs her way over to me and gives me a quick peck on the lips. With one last smile she's gone. _Now_ I can go to class.

……………

"hot date?" Taylor asks me as I see her in the reflection of my mirror. I'm getting ready for my date with Brooke tonight.

"something like that…" I reply as I finish putting in my earrings.

"where are you two crazy kids going out?"

"not sure"

"what time will you be home?" she asks, and I can see where this is going.

"I don't know."

"… do you think you could get me a copy of her driver's license?"

"what?!"

"I know a guy who knows a guy" she says mysteriously. I think she's serious too.

"Taylor, I'm not getting you her driver's license. That' ridiculous."

"hey, I'm just looking out for you" she tries to argue.

"I've been able to look out for myself for a few years now" no thanks to my family.

"yeah, and now I'm saying you don't have to"

"Tay, it's not like I can just turn it off now. I know how to handle myself and I'll be fine"

"says the girl who got out of jail, how long ago?" I just shoot her a look instead of giving her an answer. "I don't have to give you the safe sex talk do I?" oh god. Before I can answer we hear a knock at the front door. That must be Brooke.

"I'm leaving" I say as I descend down the stairs, with Taylor right behind me. Please don't embarrass me.

"or maybe I should talk with _Brooke_ for a few minutes" she offers slyly as she runs to the door right before me and pulls Brooke inside without letting her say anything.

"um, hi" Brooke says awkwardly as Taylor drags her to the couch and sits her down. She takes a seat on the coffee table right in front of her. Perfect.

"Taylor, leave her alone" I say pulling Brooke up from the couch.

"sit down Brooke" Taylor says commandingly. She sits back down, still holding my hand.

"stand up Brooke" I say just as commandingly, but this time staring at Taylor. And now Brooke stands up beside me.

"sit down" Taylor says, looking directly at me, but talking to Brooke. Before Brooke gets a chance to sit down I say something.

"don't listen to her" I say back. Now it's like a staring contest between me and Taylor. And I'll be damned if I lose.

"why don't I just-" Brooke starts.

"-no!" Taylor and I cut her off at the same time, and she's taken back by the sudden firmness.

"so then… what are we doing? Cause we have reservations…" she tries to explain.

"hey, I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions, get to know the real Brooke…" she doesn't even remember her last name.

"Davis" Brooke and I say at the same time.

"right" Taylor says. Brooke looks down at her watch and takes a seat.

"alright, let's do this" Taylor sits down in front of her and I take a seat next to Brooke.

"So Brooke, what are your intentions with my sister?"

"don't answer that!" I quickly cut in.

"fine" Taylor says, thinking of another question. "do you have any hobbies?" I guess that's safe.

"cheerleading" Brooke is quick to answer.

"oh" Taylor says. That doesn't sound like an impressed 'oh'. "what's the interest?"

"don't answer that either!" I say quickly and Taylor lets out a breath in annoyance.

"you know, we could have had a conversation where we could have talked about the questions I _am_ allowed to ask" Taylor says sarcastically.

"oh, we could have gone to the park and had a picnic" I say jokingly back.

"we could have made a whole day out of it!" she also says jokingly. And now Brooke's look at us like we're crazy. "fine. Do you do anything besides cheerleading?" Taylor asks, getting serious again.

"I don't have too much spare time to do a lot of hobbies, between being the captain of the cheerleading squad and school president, plus I'm spending what ever time I can with Haley." That totally made up for the cheerleading thing.

"oh" Taylor says, a lot more impressed.

"but when I do have a few extra minutes I like to design clothes" that's a new one, even to me.

"you want to be a fashion designer?" Taylor asks.

"yeah, well I think it's important to have dreams and pursue them. And don't worry, I would never get in the way of Haley's dreams, she means too much to me to do that to her" she says grabbing my hand and giving me a squeeze.

It's official. Brooke's won Taylor over. And she's also won me over, again.

"well I guess it's time to get going. Reservations and all" I say pulling Brooke up and to the door.

"be careful with my baby sister!" Taylor yells, just as we're leaving through the door.

"okay" Brooke yells and I pull her to her car faster. We get in and Brooke drives away. Who knows that would have happened if we took or time or something.

"sorry about that… Taylor's just-"

"-looking out for her little sister? I know. And I'm cool with that. I would give anything to have an older sibling protect me"

"well after you impressed her like that I'm sure she wants to adopt you as her sister" I say jokingly.

"you think she liked me?'

"she liked you before, but now she thinks you're good for me" I say genuinely. "so where are we going?"

"we're just going to a nice, _simple_, restaurant." Good. I like simple.

………………

We enter the restaurant and it seems like a really nice place. Not too many people around though. The hostess smiles at us as we walk up and I let Brooke do the talking.

"hi, I have a reservation under Brooke Davis"

"ah, yes of course. We just finished setting up for your special dinner" whoa, wait, what? Special dinner? The woman starts leading us to our table and I glance over at Brooke who refuses to make eye contact.

"what does she mean special dinner?" I ask.

"beats me" she shrugs. Oh she is so up to something. We're lead through the restaurant passing all of the guests and towards a room at the back, usually where more guests would be seated. But leave it to Brooke to specially request having our own room with a candle lit dinner in the middle of it all. I'd be mad too, if it wasn't so damn romantic.

We take a seat at the table and the hostess leaves us with a couple of menus. As soon as she leaves the room I put my menu down and look at Brooke, who's hidden behind her menu. She lowers it a little so that just her eyes are looking at me and see I'm not too happy. At least _that_ message got across clear.

"okay, can you tell me _your_ definition of 'simple' because I have a feeling it's going to be a little different than mine"

"oh come on Haley, we're already here and it's a nice dinner" she argues. Well it _is_ pretty nice.

"fine, but just to let you know this is not my idea of simple"

"and yet, I'm okay with that" she says handing me my menu.

…

We ordered drinks and our food and now we can finally eat and enjoy our date together.

"so you never told me you wanted to be a designer" I say trying to make conversation.

"you never asked" she shrugged.

"well I'm asking now. Where do you want to go with it?"

"I think the better question would be where does it want to go with me. I think I'd want to travel around and do all the huge fashion shoes in Paris and Milan. Go where ever my fashion should go. Just like every other designer.

"well do you think your girlfriend could get a look at some of your designs?"

"I think something could be arranged. But enough about me, what about you, what are your dreams?"

"promise not to laugh" I ask, she just gives me a small nod. "musician"

"really?" hey look, she's not laughing.

"yeah, singing my own songs, playing my guitar… do you think I could do it?"

"I think you can."

"are you saying that cause you think I can or are you saying that because you're dating me"

"both" she smirks. "but more of the first one"

"good answer"

"so why don't you go out there and start singing?"

"how come you don't go out and do fashion shows or whatever" I retaliate.

"no opportunity" she answers simply.

"same thing for me. I haven't really had the opportunity I guess"

"but if you did… would you go out and sing your songs for a real crowd?"

"I'd try…"

…………………

After we finished eating our dinner the waitress came by with the desert menus.

"can I get you ladies anything for desert?" she politely asks.

"anything look good to you, Haley?" Brooke asks me as I look up and down the menu. They have so many treats. If I lived in a world with all of these deserts they'd call it Candy Land. They have everything from Apple crumble to chocolate cheesecake.

"yeah, everything" I say jokingly.

"alright, everything it is" Brooke says taking the menu out of my hands and handing them both back to the waitress.

"what?" I ask, but before I could stop Brooke the waitress is already walking away. "Brooke I was kidding"

"well I wasn't." she says with a smile. This girl is too much.

Within minutes the delectable mini meals come flowing in. There must be 15 different types of desert on the table, and I have no idea which one to take a bite of first. God knows I'm going to have to try all of them, but finish none. Just as the last plate is placed on the table the waitress smiles at me.

"looks like you've got a romantic girlfriend" she comments. "don't let her go" she says and walks away.

"oh I won't" I say smiling at Brooke, while taking a bite out of the most chocolate-y cake I can get my hands on.

……………………

Okay, so, I told you I wouldn't be able to eat all of that desert. Brooke and I managed to take a couple bites out of each desert and that's it. I still can't believe she ordered all of this sugar. The bill is going to be outrageous.

"hey, before we leave I'm just going to go to the bathroom, kay?" Brooke asks.

"okay" I say with a smile. It'll give me a chance to digest all of this food.

As soon as Brooke comes back she grabs her jacket and puts it on and grabs my jacket and helps me put it on.

"ready?"

"whoa, what about the bill?" I ask. I don't do dine and dash.

"I took care of it"

"you _did not_ just pay for that bill by yourself"

"yeah, I did, now come on, we have to be somewhere in a few minutes" she says shaking my jacket in front of me, urging me to hurry up. I let her help me slip on my jacket and we turn towards the door.

"next time, I'm planning our date" I say as we exit the restaurant.

…………………

So we left the restaurant in a hurry just so we could end up at Tric. "what are we doing here?"

"come on" she says, ignoring my question. We head around the back of the building and up the stairs. Everything back here is dark and creepy.

"Brooke, what are we doing here?" I ask again, this time whispering. She ignores me again and knocks on the large metal doors. Within seconds the door opens up and we see Peyton.

"hey" Brooke say as she pulls me in behind her.

"hey, hurry up" Peyton says.

"Brooke, what the hell is happening?" I ask getting more and more frustrated.

"you're going to sing tonight" say what now?

"what?!"

"you said if you had the opportunity to, you would sing, so here it is"

"I don't have my guitar" I say. Thank god for that.

"and I believe that's where I come in" Taylor says popping out of nowhere. I take back what I said about God. Taylor's carrying my guitar case and opens it up on the table at the side. I knew I shouldn't have let her live with me.

"were you in on this entire date?" I ask Taylor.

"no, Brooke called me like 15 minutes ago" Taylor explains. Brooke must have called her and Peyton when she went to the bathroom. That sneaky little… well you get the point.

"so you did all of this… for me?" I ask, turning to face Brooke.

"you're worth every drop of sweat" she says leaning in closer to me.

"Ladies, and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage… Haley James" we hear Rachel from on stage.

"Well that's my cue" I say to everyone. Now that was cliché. "do I get a good luck kiss?" I ask Brooke as I pick up my guitar.

Brooke smiles to me and gives me a quick peck and sends me on my way up the stage with a quick slap on my ass for encouragement. Here goes nothing.

I take the stage, guitar in hand. The only sounds are the low murmurs of the audience. Without a word I just start playing. I've got to stop telling Brooke everything.

_Honey I just can't get around it anymore  
You make me feel like home is where you are  
And baby I just can't run around it every morn'n  
It's time that I believe it, home is where you are_

Notes in my drawers, songs in my pockets,  
Fragments of letters that you sent,  
Leftover phone calls, cologne in the bath  
I still have that bottle of Rosé

Staring at your photograph, tryin' to take it down  
There's still a stirring in my heart

And honey I just can't get around it anymore  
You make me feel like home is where you are  
And baby I just can't run around it every morn'n  
It's time that I believe it, home is where you are

I've never been to half of these places  
But your postcard collection makes me crave  
A little space, a little ways out of the city to the 

_grace of another land, another tongue, another time_

Staring at your photograph, I can't take it down  
There's still a fire in me yet

Honey I just can't get around it anymore  
You make me feel like home is where you are  
And baby I just can't run around it every morn'n  
It's time that I believe it, home is where you are

Honey I just can't  
You better believe yeah

I hear a some clapping from the audience, nothing big, but still for my first show, it was a huge success. Well at least it was to me. I slowly walk off the stage and as soon as I'm out of the audience's view I run to Brooke and wrap my arms around her.

"you were amazing" she whispers into my ear.

"thank you" I say pulling back a little to give her a kiss. It's now that I realize that I'm surrounded by her two best friends and my sister. "and of course thank you to you guys for doing this for me"

"you better be thankful, I had to take time out of watching my soaps to come down here and bring this guitar" Taylor says.

"well I'm glad you think I'm worth miss your soaps for" I say back.

"hey I wouldn't go that far" she says jokingly.

"yeah, well, I didn't miss any soaps and I still thought were pretty good" Peyton is even able to muster up a compliment.

"that's my girl" Brooke says pulling me closer.

…………………

After we spent half an hour at the club just talking and having a good time Brooke and I decided to get going. It was a school night after all. We let Taylor leave a few minutes before us, just so we wouldn't get home at the same time as her. That would be awkward.

So we're driving home and I don't know how she did it, but I feel like nothing could get me down, like nothing's wrong and everything is perfect. I try to keep a straight face, but I can't. That smile just keeps popping up. No matter how hard I try I can't stop being happy.

I smile over at Brooke and I must look crazy 'cause she starts smiling too, but she doesn't know why I'm smiling.

"what?" she asks me.

"nothing" I say with an even bigger smile.

"then why are you smiling so much, huh? Oh god, do I have something on my face?" she asks as she rubs her cheeks with her free hand.

"no, there's nothing on your face" I say pulling her hand away.

"then what's with all the smiles?"

"you did this to me" I say accusingly. "I can't stop smiling" I say with another smile. "I'm smiling because you make me happy" and it seems like all of a sudden my smiles are contagious as I see her face light up and the rest of the way home, she's smiling too.

When we finally arrive back at my house Brooke walks me to my door, just like on any other date and we stop on the porch before I open the door.

"so thank you for everything tonight. This was so far from simple, but I loved every second of it"

"good, that's what I was going for" she says with her smirk. I pull her closer and wrap my arms lightly around her neck as she puts her hands on my waist.

"you know, at the end of every date there is always a good night kiss" I say slyly.

"I know" she says leaning in a little closer. "and tonight there just happens to be a nosy older sister watching us right now" Brooke reminds me. We both know Taylor's on the other side of that door.

"well then it's a good thing you have a girlfriend who doesn't care about what her nosy older sister thinks"

"I guess it is…" she says finally leaning down to give me a good night kiss. Just barely pressing down and making it nice and slow. We pull back at the same time, but only about an inch away, eyes still closed.

The image of perfection.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

I'm sitting here at lunch by myself. Yes, by myself. Well, I'm waiting for Brooke. Lucas is with Peyton, Nathan is at basketball, and Rachel is… well I don't know where Rachel is right now, but if she was here it would be awkward. So, technically, it's a good thing.

All of a sudden I feel a light warm breeze and I can smell her perfume. It gives me that feeling that makes everything seem good.

I feel a pair of arms wrap around my neck from behind and I place my hand on them. Brooke's head appears from the side and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

"hey girlfriend" she says happily.

"right back at ya" I say back. She smiles and takes the seat next to me, straddling the picnic bench.

"so I have some good news" she says excitedly.

"that freshman cheerleader got hit by a bus?" I reply jokingly.

"no… but me and you are going away this weekend!"

"really? Just me and you?"

"yeah… well me and you… and Peyton, Rachel, Nathan and Lucas." She adds super quickly. "But me and you are still together!" she says hopefully.

"uh huh" I respond with an eye roll. I love eye rolls, they say so much. "so where are we going?"

"The elites always go to Rachel's cottage before her family closes it for the season. So we figured since some of us have _attachments_ we'd extend a few invites"

"oh well I feel so spoiled" I say sarcastically.

"oh well, if you feel spoiled now, just wait till the weekend because you and me are going to be spending tons of time together and it's going to be romantic and sweet and perfect" she assures me. I guess I can't turn that down.

"alright… but I'm expecting lots of kissing this weekend." I really am.

"well_ that_ I can promise you anytime… in fact I think I'll prove it to you right now" she says and leans in for a kiss. Before it can actually get anywhere we're interrupted.

"hey guys!" Rachel says popping out of nowhere and completely spoiling the moment.

"do you like _plan_ these interruptions?" Brooke asks.

"of course I do! 12:32pm right on the dot" she says showing us her watch.

"we do not kiss at 12:32 pm every day" I point out.

"I know. You guys kiss at every minute of lunch, 12:32 just happens to be one of them" Rachel points out making Brooke and I laugh. "so has Brooke told you about the cottage yet?"

"just now"

"so I can count you in?"

"I'll be there as long as Brooke's there" I say and without even looking over I can tell Brooke's smiling.

"great, now I'm going to go see if I can catch Lucas and Peyton making out. It is 12:36pm after all" she says with a smirk and gets up.

"it's 12:36pm and now we have missed a full 4 minutes of kissing" Brooke points out. "I think we need to make up for lost time" this girl will do anything for a kiss. Good thing I'm willing to do anything to kiss her.

…

Okay so you know those couples that are constantly making out on double dates? You know the ones where they are making out and make the other couple completely awkward, well that's me and Brooke. Not the awkward couple, but the couple that's making out.

It's Friday afternoon and the 6 of us are piled into Rachel's Denali. Rachel and Nathan are in the front seat, with Lucas and Peyton in the middle and of course Brooke and I are in the very back. In the back where no one can see us, but I think Lucas and Peyton can hear us. Ha, sucks to be them.

I'm basically lying on top of Brooke who's lying down on the seat with her arms holding my waist. I start kissing her lips with her kissing me back forcefully and I soon move to her neck. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like in a few hours. I kiss a certain spot beneath her ear and she lets out a quiet moan and I can't help but giggle.

"shhh" I whisper and get back to kissing and accidentally kiss her spot again and this time she lets out a slightly louder moan. I can't help but giggle a little harder and whisper "shhh" into her ear again.

"well then stop kissing me there" she whispers back.

"hey I'm your girlfriend, I can kiss you where ever I want" I whisper.

"fine, then that rule goes same for me" she says flipping me over in the seat and starts kissing my neck this time. I feel her hands running up and down my sides slowly then faster, each time getting higher and higher, and I don't know if I can control myself. Just as she's about to go fully frontal, we hear Rachel's voice.

"hey, where's Brooke and Haley?" she asks, probably seeing that we're not sitting up.

"…oh they're back there" Peyton says suggestively, and all of a sudden the car comes to a screeching halt and Brooke is thrown to the floor.

"oh hell no! no one is allowed to have sex in my car but me" okay, that totally turned me off. Next thing I know I see Peyton and Lucas poke their heads over the seat to see Brooke still lying on the floor and they start laughing at her.

"I think I'm stuck" Brooke says struggling to get up and I can't help but laugh with Lucas and Peyton. "Haley, help me up" I grab her arm and pull her up onto the seat beside me. We must look pretty bad because everyone's staring at us and I can see Brooke's wild hair. I try to fix it as she wipes the smudged lip stick off of my face.

"what the hell were you two doing back there?" Rachel asks.

"nothing" we reply together.

"yeah, cause it sure sounded like nothing" Lucas said. Damn it, I knew Brooke would moan loudly. Brooke automatically hits Lucas in the back of the head and I laugh. He turns back around to glare at both of us and Brooke just points at me, as if I did it.

I scoff and push her and she smiles. This is going to be a fun weekend.

Rachel starts driving again once we're all settled and Nathan finally says something.

"wait… so the only person allowed to have sex in this car is you… does that mean you have sex by yourself?" he asks seriously, but with a smirk on his face. The four of us all burst out laughing and Rachel hits Nathan in the back of the head this time.

Yeah, this is definitely going to be a fun weekend.

……………

We finally arrive at the mansion, I mean cottage, and Brooke and I jump out of the car, pushing Lucas and Peyton out of the way. We head to the trunk and Brooke tosses my bag at me and grabs her own. She grabs my hand and immediately starts pulling me towards the cottage.

"come on"

"why are you rushing?"

"5 bedrooms, 6 people, Rachel gets the master, and you and I get to share, so we have to get the good room" she says and we run into the house with Peyton hot on our trail.

"dibs on the good room!" Peyton yells from behind us.

"nope, too bad! First come first serve" she yells back as she guides me through the small halls and into a room. She opens the door and shuts in behind us and locks it. We stand in silence catching our breath when we hear Peyton banging on the door.

"no fair! I called dibs!" she complains. She is such a kid.

"yeah, well there's two of us so we need a nice room!" Brooke argues. Once we finally catch our breath and Peyton is gone, Brooke pulls me over to the bed and forces me to sit down on her lap as she brings her lips back to mine. I've missed this feeling, even though it's only been about half an hour since we were making out in the back of the car.

All of a sudden we hear a jiggle at the door and Brooke and I freeze.

"it's okay, it's locked" she says and goes back to kissing me. But not seconds later the door swings open and I see Rachel and Peyton with a bobby pin in Rachel's hand. I hate that people know how to pick a lock. Stupid MacGyver.

"um, we're kind of busy in here" Brooke says, still holding me on her lap.

"so we see" Peyton says.

"one of you has to get out" Rachel informs us.

"what? Why?" Brooke asks.

"each girl gets her own room and Nate and Luke are sharing" Rachel says. Sucks to be a Scott.

"that makes no sense" Brooke points out.

"yes it does, if we stick the Scott bros in a room they won't have sex, if we stick you two in a room it's like handing a condom to two horny teenagers. I am not going to let you desecrate my bed"

"you know you can't stop me from kissing Brooke" I say, finally getting off her lap.

"I know, but we can surprisingly do a lot to keep you from having sex" Rachel says and walks out of the room. As soon as Rachel's gone Peyton sticks her tongue out at Brooke and runs away before we can do anything to her. How mature. I turn back to Brooke who has a pout on her face.

"alright, well you can have this room, I'm going to go steal Peyton's room" she says with a sad smile on her face.

"alright. And hey don't worry, we have all weekend together, remember?"

"I know. And by the way, don't be surprised if you find me sleep walking into your room in the middle of the night" she says with a wink as she picks up her bag and heads down the hall. From my room I hear a door open and Peyton and Brooke having their joyful conversation.

"hey!" Peyton complains.

"out!" Brooke says and I hear a thud, probably Peyton's bag being tossed out of the room. "you take away my sex, I take away your room" Brooke says. Next thing I hear is some feet shuffling and the door slam shut. I wonder who won.

"I hate you, you know that?" I hear Peyton's voice, probably speaking to a door now. Yup, Brooke usually wins.

"no you don't!" Brooke's muffled voice says through the door and she's right. The elite's definitely have a weird relationship.

……………

So Brooke and I are sitting in the hot tub in the darkness of the night and we're finally alone. I think this just might be the weekend that Brooke and I… well you know. I know we've only been girlfriends for a few days, but I've known her for a few weeks. And well, that's enough for me. Plus, I can barely control myself when she's doing stuff like this.

It's just me and her in the hot tub and my legs are on top of hers underneath the water, while her hand is lightly touching my bare thigh. Not to mention she's basically sucking on my neck and it's driving me crazy. I can tell this girl's got experience.

Before I can make _my_ move Peyton and Rachel hop in with us, dragging Lucas and Nathan along with them

"mind if we join?" Peyton asks, and Brooke's about to respond when she's cut off. "no? good" Peyton says with a smirk. I take my legs off of Brooke and separate ourselves a little. All but one part. Brooke's hand managed to stay on my leg underneath the water, where no one can see it. I don't say anything at the risk of everyone else finding out.

Soon, I feel the hand start moving a little. Her hand is rubbing my leg back and forth a little and it's slowly inching it way further up. I can feel my breath contract in my throat and I realize I can barely form words now. I look over to Brooke who's acting like nothing is happening, but I know she's thinking something dirty in her mind.

"well, I'm done" I say getting out of the tub quickly and wrapping my towel around my lower half. I head back towards the cottage but before I go through the door I quickly glance at Brooke who glances back. I see her make up an excuse to the gang and soon follows me in.

As soon as the door opens I grab Brooke and push her against the wall and press my lips down on hers.

"that was a dirty trick you played back there" I mutter against her lips.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about" she says faking her innocence.

"uh huh" I say pulling her towards the couch. I push her down and place a leg on either side of her legs. I grab her by the head and bring her closer to me. _Finally,_ we have some alone time. I'm kissing Brooke and I can feel her hands rub up and down the outside of my bare thigh, lightly toying with the strings of my bikini. Before she can pull either of the strings I grab her hands and pin them up above her head so that she can't move.

"oooh" she whispers in her husky voice, turning me on even more. I can tell she's into the kinky stuff. I open my mouth a little and I let her tongue roam around inside so I push my tongue into her mouth, letting our tongues battle it out. Just as I let her hands fall I bring my hands to the string of her bikini top and I'm about to pull it undone when the door opens up and in walks Nathan totally ruining the moment. He looks at us in utter shock and we both sigh. I slide off of Brooke and to the side and we both stare at him.

"oh, don't stop on my account" he says with a smirk.

"pig" Brooke and I say at the same time. Just then Rachel comes in behind him, wearing a towel.

"oh hey you guys" Rachel says. She totally planned Nathan walking in on us. "aw look at you two, sitting in front of the fire" I didn't even realize the fire was going. I don't think Brooke did either. "that's such a great idea, in fact why don't we all join you" she says excitedly as she calls Lucas and Peyton in. They all take a seat with us in the living room and we pop in a movie to watch. Brooke and I are on the couch, underneath a blanket, with Lucas and Peyton on the couch to our right, and Nathan and Rachel sitting on the floor.

Maybe a break from sneaking around is what we need. I crawl in closer to Brooke, resting my head on her shoulder and she puts her arm around me and pulls the blanket fully on top of us.

Ten minutes into the movie I see Brooke already fast asleep, so I figure why not fall asleep too. I mean, I'll probably end up waking up at the end of the movie anyways. I snuggle in closer to Brooke and get comfortable and let my body fall asleep.

……………………

So that idea went bust. Seeing as I'm waking up and it's morning again. I lift my head from Brooke's lap and I realize she's still asleep. It looks like the sun's just coming up, and everyone else is probably sleeping in their own rooms. I get up, doing my best not to wake Brooke, and cover her back up with the blanket to keep her warm.

I tip toe down the hall and into my room where my cell phone is. Let's call Taylor. I dial the number and it's like the ringing goes on for ever. She's probably sleeping. Oh well.

"what?!" a grumpy voice comes through the phone.

"good morning big sister" I say sweetly, yet quietly.

"Haley, it's like 6:00 am, what the hell are you doing calling me?"

"just checking to make sure you didn't throw any wild parties… you are a bar tender after all, who really knows what goes on in your mind"

"hey, shut up. And also, shouldn't I be the one checking up on you? I mean you just got out of jail a few days ago and you're spending a weekend away with your criminal friends…"

"alright I get it. Just promise you won't burn down the house"

"I'm hanging up now" she says, not confirming nor denying anything.

"bye" I say and we both hang up. I'm about to go back out and join Brooke again when I see her leaning against the door way, now in her bikini and with a sweater on top.

"hey, I didn't wake you, did I?" I ask.

"no, I was awaken by the _cold_" she says strutting over towards me. She lays a kiss down on my lips, then another one and I can feel her hands travel up my bare back.

"Brooke…" I say and she pulls back.

"what's wrong?" she asks.

"look, you know how much I want to _be_ with you, but I want our first time to be special and I don't want to have to sneak around every 10 minutes to do it"

"I know" she sighs as she takes a seat on my bed. I take this opportunity to pull some clothes over my bikini and let her continue. "it's like they just happen to interrupt us every time we get… intimate" she says looking for the right words. "but I promise, we will have some alone time this weekend, even if I have to chain everybody to a brick and drop them in the bottom of the lake" she says jokingly. But then again, I don't really know how important sex is to her.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15

**Chapter 16**

**So I know it's been weeks and I finally got this update on. Sorry to anyone still reading. I had a lot at school going. But don't worry, since I've procrastinated so much I'll update a lot more often now. Like maybe a chapter a day?... sound good?**

Once people started to wake up Brooke and I thought it would be a nice gesture to make breakfast for them. Brooke started pulling out the ingredients as I started making the pancakes. We all know how bad Brooke is at cooking. But instead of doing it all my self I tried to help teach Brooke how to cook, monitoring every move she made.

"okay, now add the flour to the bowl, then the eggs and start beating them" all in one movement Brooke managed to dump way to much flour into the bowl, making the dust of the flour fly up into her face. Next she tried grabbing a few eggs all at once and tried to break them but instead they all broke in her hands.

Everyone in the room laughed at her as I tried to wipe her face clean.

"I don't think any amount of help is going to be enough to make Brooke a good chef" Peyton says from the table in the middle of the room. Lucas is sitting next to her while Rachel is getting a drink from the fridge and Nathan is sipping his coffee.

"oh hey Brooke, you got some flour here" Rachel says wiping her forehead as an example. Brooke falls for it and wipes her forehead putting more flour on there than before. Everyone starts laughing again and Brooke turns to me with a pout.

"aw, come here" I say wiping the flour off of her face, again. "Brooke you really should have put your hair up for this" I say pushing it behind her ears.

"oh, I brought a hair tie, it's in my bag, do you mind getting it for me?" she asks, showing me her gooey egg hands. I nod and put the towel down and head into Brooke's room. I unzip her bag and I have no idea where she would put a hair tie. I'm going through her clothes, and I've pretty much seen it all, but one thing. Why did she bring a tie? And why is it already tied? I dig through one of the pockets and find her hair tie, but find myself still curious about the tie, so I bring them both out. Just as I enter the room with everyone in it, I see Brooke trying to make the pancakes again, this time Rachel is helping her.

"hey Brooke, why did you bring a tie to the cottage?" I ask out loud and everyone looks at me holding the tie up. Peyton and Rachel snort in laughter and Lucas and Nathan soon follow. Brooke quickly grabs the tie from my hand and shoves it in her pocket.

"yeah, Brooke, why _do_ you have a tie?" she asks, but I can tell she knows the answer, just like everyone else in the room.

"planning something _special_?" Peyton asks with her own smirk. Okay, what am I missing?

"shut up" Brooke snaps at them. "just forget about it for now Haley" she says sweetly to me, but glares at everyone else. She takes the hair tie and puts her hair up and gets back to work with Rachel. Both Rachel and Peyton are still smirking and I know this is going to bother me.

I take a seat next to Nathan and I just look at him. He'll break. He smiles and leans over to whisper to me. "everyone knows the Elites put ties on their doors at parties and things as a 'do not disturb' sign… and usually it's for a good reason. It's sort of like a silent rule of the elites… tie on the door - speak no more" he says with a smirk. Of course he would know that. And now, everyone else knows it too. I've got to fix this… or at least make it better for Brooke.

I get up from my seat and I see Rachel still trying to help Brooke with the pancakes. I walk up beside Brooke and I place my hand down on her pocket and lean closer to her ear.

"you may want to hang onto this tie for later" I whisper loud enough for Rachel to hear. The look on Rachel's face is priceless. It's basically a combination of surprise, disgust and maybe a hint of anger/jealousy. Brooke smirks to me and nudges Rachel to shake her out of her combination of moods, trying to tell her it was only a joke… or was it?

…………………

After everyone ate breakfast we just sat around a little spending some quality time with each other. And as soon as we all got fed up with each other Brooke and I went for a walk, with a picnic basket. We walk along the river for a few minutes until we reach an opening in the woods with a small view of the river in all its glory. We lay the blanket down and take a seat. Brooke sits down and I sit in between her legs with my back pressed against her chest.

"see, this is nice" I point out. We're alone, and plenty far away from the cottage and everyone inside it. The only reason they let us go alone probably was because they knew we wouldn't do it in the woods.

"too bad we can't have alone time back at the cottage. It's like they're never… busy" ooh do I see a plan in the works? Oh wait, I think I see the gears grinding. Light bulb in 3…2…1 "I got it!" I knew it. "okay look, why don't we go back and you hang out with Lucas for a while and I'll take care of everything else, okay?"

"wait, what?" I thought I would at least be in on the plan.

"up!" she says forcing me to stand. She gets the picnic basket that we haven't even eaten yet, and she grabs the blanket. "now march" she pushes me back in the direction of the cottage.

As soon as we get back, Brooke pushes me in the direction of Lucas, who is sitting alone and runs off in another direction.

"hey" I saw awkwardly. He looks up from his book and smiles at me.

"hey, it's been a while since I've seen you without Brooke by your side"

"yeah, well, we're happy together" I say taking a seat beside him. "so what's going on with you and Peyton?" I ask suggestively.

"we're… progressing" he says with a smile.

"I bet you are" I say with a smirk back.

"looks like you and Brooke are progressing too. Progressing all the way to the bedroom"

"shut up!" I screech.

"hey, if you get to make fun of me and Peyton, I get to make fun of you and Brooke" he says. I lean back and sit closer to him and let him put his arm around me. I consider myself lucky to have a friend like Luke. I know it doesn't seem like we do much, but I can tell he'd take care of me if I needed it.

"hey, aren't you already seeing someone?" Peyton asks from afar as she sees me sitting with Lucas. I smile and get up at the same time as Lucas.

"careful Luke, you've got a jealous girlfriend on your hands. I don't think she's hiding wings under that leather jacket of hers…" I whisper loudly, Peyton just glares at me. Wow she takes those jokes way too seriously. "speaking of girlfriends, has anybody seen mine?" I ask in a quick change of subjects.

"oh, yeah, I came across her on her way into the cottage or something, she said to wait down on the deck near the docks" Peyton says to me.

"alright, thanks" I say.

"so Luke, you want to go for a walk?" she asks. He smiles at her and puts his book down.

"I'd love to" he says, he gives me a wave as I watch the two of them walk down the path. Before I completely lose them I see Lucas grab Peyton's hand and hold it in is. They are totally cute together.

I turn back around and start heading towards the dock. To pass the time by I hop up on the ledge and take a seat just to take in the nature around me. Before too long I hear a few footsteps behind me. I don't bother turning around because I know who it is.

"hey sexy, whatchya doing?" she asks.

"nothing, just waiting for my beautiful girlfriend" I answer. I turn around on the ledge to face her and on the way I graze my hand along the wood and some how contract a splinter. "ow!" I cry out and grip my finger in pain. I seriously hate splinters, you have no idea. I mean how terrifying does it sound that you have a piece of wood lodged underneath a layer of your skin? Terrifying, I know. "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" I repeat over and over again, shaking my hand in the air. I don't know why people do this, it doesn't help the pain.

"what? What? What?" Brooke asks, in response to my ows.

"I got a splinter!" I cry as I keep waving my hand in the air. Make the pain stop. She grabs my hand and pulls it down to examine my finger. "is it bleeding? God, if it's bleeding I think I'm going to pass out. I can't take blood! I mean imagine it, a piece of wood surrounded by blood, you'd never be able to get it out. Oh my god, then the pain would be there for the rest of my life! I think-"

"-Haley!" she cuts me off. I was rambling, I always ramble when there's pain or blood… or both. "you're not bleeding. Just keep still" she says pulling something out of her pocket. It's one of those Swiss army knives. I see her pull out a small pair of metal tweezers. And have I mentioned that I hate tweezers even more than splinters? Why? Because it hurts.

"no, no, no, no, no, no!" I say holding my hand as far away from hers as possible.

"oh come Haley, stop being a baby"

"don't call me a baby!" I argue back. "it's just taking out splinters is painful" I say. She manages to grab my hand and hold it in place, even though I'm still whining like a baby.

"it's not that bad" she says looking up at me, then back down at my finger. "you know on my first day of school I was so excited, you know getting to meet new friends and learning everything about the world. I was so excited that, that morning I was running around my room trying on every outfit possible, and then running back and forth between the kitchen and my room so I could eat faster. But the thing is, I was wearing socks and this was on smooth wooden floors so I was slipping and sliding all over the place. I was running by the stairs and I slipped, of course, and went down head first and I was just bawling my eyes out because I was in so much pain. I mean, it was my first day of school and I was going to probably miss it because I fell down a few stairs. I mean I had cuts and bruises all over, even chipped a tooth, but then I look down at my knee and I see blood every where and that's when I realized the bone was just barely sticking out of the skin, like I could _actually _see it"

"oh my god! Are you serious?!" I practically yell.

"…no" she says with a smirk. Are you kidding me?! "but you didn't feel a thing…" she says holding up the splinter with the tweezers. I look down at my finger and I realize the splinter is gone. How the hell did she do that? It takes a special person to help over come your fears. Even if they are lying.

"so you just totally made up that entire story just so I wouldn't feel any pain?"

"well, I had to shut you up some how" she says with a smile. That is so sweet! The whole splinter thing, not the shutting up thing. She grabs my hands and helps me down so that I don't get any more splinters. "now, I have something special to show you…"

"ooh, a surprise? I like surprises"

"Well good, because I think you're really going to like this. But you have to close your eyes" she says as she stands behind me and covers my eyes with both of her hands. "now, like you said, we wanted some alone time so I came up with a plan to keep Rachel and Peyton busy:

"you did, did you?" I ask as I fell Brooke guide me in the right direction.

"yup, I told Rachel, hottie Scott - Nathan - wanted to go swimming with her and that we were going to hang out with Peyton and Lucas to give them some alone time…"

"we're not going to hang out with Peyton and Lucas are we? Cause I think that would take the 'alone' part out of alone time."

"no, after talking to Rachel and sending her on her merry way, I ran into Peyton and might have told her that me and you are hanging out with Rachel and Nathan and that she should take this opportunity to go for a long walk with Luke"

"so each of them thinks we're hanging out with the other girl… sneaky Davis, very sneaky"

"yes, well it will all be worth it" she whispers into my ear as she guides me through the halls of the cottage and towards a room I suspect is one of ours. I hear the door creak open and Brooke slowly removes her hands from my face. "okay, open them…" she whispers. I slowly open my eyes to see my dim lighted room with candles places strategically around the room for ambience.

"Brooke…" I whisper. This is so sweet. How did she manage to do all of this in 15 minutes? This girl is seriously amazing.

"do you like it?"

"… I-I love it" I say turning back around so that I can hug her and give her a quick kiss. "so it's just me and you?"

"and knowing those two flirts I like to call my friends, we have a few hours too" she tells me. I give a fake gasp and step closer to her.

"Well then… let's make use of _every_ minute" I say slyly as I rub my hands up and down her body and quickly take the tie out of her pocket and put it on the door knob on the outside of the door. I turn around and close the door behind me.

The lights are off and I walk closer to Brooke. I slowly push her down onto the bed and crawl on top of her. This is it. I straddle her at the waist and she sits up so I take this opportunity to take her sweater off, then the shirt underneath it. I lean down and press my lips to her neck and now I'm not afraid to kiss her spot. I kiss the place just under her ear and I hear her give out a little moan. That's going to come in handy later. I reach my hands around her back to get her bra, but instead she stops my arms and helps me to pull off my sweater, with only my bikini top underneath. Soon she goes for the strings on my pants and within seconds they hit the floor. I work the button on her jeans, all while still kissing her on the mouth. I get the button undone and pull down the zipper, and slide off of her legs. She stands up and lets the jeans fall to the floor.

This is usually as far as I've gotten with Brooke and that's when she comes for a sleep over. I see her body in the light of the candles walk over to me and pull me closer by the waist. She brings her head down to mine to kiss me, while she pulls the string to my bikini top and I go for her bra. As soon as my top is gone, so I her bra and I feel her pull the strings on my bikini bottom now. As soon as it falls to the floor I help Brooke out of her panties.

Now that we're fully naked I push Brooke down onto the bed and I crawl in beside her and under the covers. I know she's never done anything like this before because well, before me she had never even kissed a girl. But when it comes to sex Brooke seems to know what she's doing. My hand glides down her back, over her ass and onto the back of her bare thigh rubbing it slowly. Her hands are rubbing up and down my sides and over my chest for the first time. It feels so good. One hand is moving down my stomach lower and lower until it finally reaches its destination.

Brooke starts rubbing my centre and it's getting me all hot and bothered. Brooke stops kissing me for a second, not sure what to do now. I kiss her again to let her know I'm here. "it's okay" I whisper into her ear and go back to kissing her. I slowly feel her push a finger into me, slowly filling me up. She pulls it out a little bit and then back in, repeating this process over and over again. I start bucking my hips towards her hand and I can feel myself getting closer and closer.

"mmm, Brooke" I moan out loud and her hand starts moving faster and faster, and I'm almost there. Brooke moves her head down to my neck and that's all it takes to send me over the edge. "yes!" I let out very loudly and I let the orgasm come over my body. Brooke's hand starts to slow down and she slowly pulls her finger out of me.

As soon as I regain my energy back I push Brooke fully onto her back and now it's my turn. I kiss her on the lips for one lasting kiss and soon kiss my way down her body. First I kiss her neck, then to her collar bone, kissing each breast along the way, and down to her stomach. I kiss all around and let my tongue dip into her belly button. I keep going lower and lower until her hips. I slowly push her legs apart and kiss the inside of her legs softly and I look up at Brooke and see it's driving her crazy. Without any hesitation I press my mouth down onto her centre and start licking.

"oh god" Brooke breathes out. I see her hands clutch onto the sheets for dear life as I continue what I'm doing. As I continue my licking and sucking I take one finger and slowly insert it just to drive Brooke wild. She's moaning my name as I continue to slowly push my finger in and out of her, with my mouth still pressed down to the spot. Within minutes she screams my name at the top of her lungs and I can feel her muscles contract around my finger. I slowly pull it out and make my way back up to Brooke to give her a kiss.

She pulls the sheets on top of our bodies and wraps an arm around me. This is what I've been waiting for. Just to be with her is an amazing feeling all by itself.

……………

After our _alone_ time together we took a quick nap, but it was just more like lying with each other instead of napping.

"so… what now?" Brooke asks. I look up at her and just shrug.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I don't usually stick around after the sex"

"well I'm glad you found something interesting enough to still be with me" I say as I give her a kiss on the cheek. I get out of the bed and I hear her groan as the cold hits her body. "oh be quiet" I say tossing the blanket I was using to cover my body at her.

"ooh" she says excitedly seeing my naked body again.

"yeah, yeah" I say going into my suit case and pulling on some actual clothes. "do you think Rachel and Peyton are back yet?"

"I don't know, why? Want to go for round two?" she asks as she kinks her eyebrow.

"I bet you'd like that" I say putting on another layer of clothes.

"you know I would" she says slyly.

"yes I do, but I'm hungry, someone took away the picnic basket before we could eat" I say looking at her. Yeah, she knows who I'm talking about.

"okay fine, let's go get some food. I'm hungry anyways" she says getting out of bed in her birthday suit and heading for the door.

"Brooke, aren't you going to put some clothes on?" I say still standing in my spot.

"why? They're not going to be back for a while." Brooke says as she opens the door. But before I can follow she slams the door shut quickly.

"what?" I ask, seeing as there is a large block of wood now stopping me from exiting the room. And by large block of wood, I mean the door.

"Brooke!" we hear Rachel and Peyton's voices on the other side of the door.

"… never mind, they're back" Brooke says keeping the door shut. This probably isn't good. Brooke quickly rushes to put her clothes on while I go to the door and crack it open.

"sorry, Brooke's not in here" I say sweetly, just poking my head through the door.

"nice try, but we just saw Brooke in all her _glory_" they say pushing the door open fully and walking in as Brooke was just pulling her shirt over her bra. Thank god her jeans were already on.

"h-hey guys, what are you doing back so early?" Brooke asks trying to act all innocent. I knew I should have told her to put clothes on.

"well when Luke and I were going for a walk we spotted Rachel and Nathan swimming and knew something was up" Peyton says.

"and then we come back to an empty cottage to find _this_ on your door knob" Rachel says holding up the tie.

"oh, how did that get there?" Brooke asks innocently. This is going nowhere. Brooke and I subtly walk passed them and try to get away but it's no use.

"stop" they both say together, and we freeze just outside the door.

"come back here" Peyton says, motioning with her finger. We both start walking back in but Rachel cuts us off.

"just Brooke" Rachel says. Brooke gives me this fake scared face look as she is pulled into the room without me. The door shuts and I'm a little afraid for Brooke. But that feeling of fear is soon replaced by the feeling of hunger and I make my way into the kitchen. She'll be fine.

I head into the kitchen to see Lucas and Nathan looking through the fridge.

"anything good in there?" I ask propping my self up on the counter. Lucas and Nathan pull their heads out of the fridge each with a soda in hand and Lucas hands me one too.

"so you guys came back early" I comment, as I open the can up.

"I guess we have you to thank for that" Nathan says. Oh god, they all knew didn't they?

"what ever" there's no point in hiding it anymore. "Brooke and I were tired of being interrupted every time we wanted to be alone"

"you know they do that for a reason" Lucas says. "everyone can see that you and Brooke are getting close, closer than any of her old boyfriends. The elites see that too, that's why they're careful."

"When Brooke dated other guys what was it like?" I ask out of curiosity. I mean, wouldn't you be curious about your current girlfriend/boyfriend's ex?

"well there were plenty of ties to go around" Nathan says jokingly, but Luke is serious.

"she definitely didn't spend as much time with them as she does with you, that's for sure."

"the elites see something like that and they can't help but be protective" Nathan adds. "they see something different with you, just like everyone else and they can see that Brooke's starting to fall in love"

"which is a first for an elite" Lucas quickly adds. Wait, what?

"really? None of the elites have fallen for a boyfriend at some point?"

"not that anyone's admitted it." Nathan says. I don't even know what to think. Before I came to this school I didn't even know about the elites and now it's like my world revolves around one of them.

"so you really think she loves me?" I ask quietly. Before either boy can answer we hear a door open and footsteps come into the kitchen, along with some terribly out of tune singing. Brooke is strutting down the hallway, lightly singing 'I'm walking on sunshine'. Aw, look, she's singing, that means she's happy.

"hey Hales, hey boys" Brooke says with a smile as she kisses me on the cheek. "you weren't talking about me were you?" she asks.

"us? No, of course not" I say.

"well that's too bad, because I was talking about you" Brooke says back to me.

"is that so?" she nods. "well what exactly were you saying?" I ask, now looking up at Rachel and Peyton.

"just how cute you are, and adorable, and sexy, and hot…" Brooke lists off and I lean down to kiss her. She starts kissing me back a little harder and I feel like it's a challenge so I kiss back more.

"okay, well I'm bored, come on Luke" Peyton says pulling him out the door, trying to get out of the room as fast as possible.

"yeah, I'm going to watch some TV" Rachel says making up and excuse and leaves. Brooke and I pull back and see that Nathan is still staring at us with a stupid grin. We're about to say something when Rachel comes back into the room and pulls him away with her.

"well would you look at that…" Brooke says with a fake gasp. "we're all alone"

"…what did you say to them?" I ask as I realize we _are_ alone.

"nothing. They just talked to me about some stuff, and then I started to tell them about what we did-"

"-you what?!" I ask.

"don't worry. I started to tell them but then they stopped me. And then I said that if they don't want to hear it they probably don't want to see it, and they're better off just giving us some alone time" Sometimes this girl is just so smart.

"sneaky, Davis, very sneaky."

"yes, I know, but how about we go have our long over due picnic?"

"mm, perfect. I'm starving"

**Don't worry guys, i'll get a new chapter up tmr or something. hope you liked this one. Oh and just fyi, the halloween party is coming up in 2 chapters as well.  
**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

We finished our picnic a little while ago but we decided to stay out here for few more minutes. I mean how often to do you get the opportunity to sit in peace in the wilderness with your girlfriend? Not often.

"what about this one?" I ask holding up her arm in front of me. I'm sitting with my back against her chest as I examine her body trying to find out the story behind every little scar.

"when I was little Leo was trying to teach me how to use the oven…" she starts. I examine the scar closer, it looks like an old burn mark on the underside of her wrist. "I was taking a pan out of the oven and well… it slipped and voila."

I bring her wrist up to my face and give it a kiss better. Now I know the pain is long gone, but I still love doing this. I've done it with every scratch I could find.

"tell me something" I say.

"like what?"

"I don't know. Just tell me something. Something I don't know"

"okay…" she starts. "when I was little I would have problems waking up early enough for school so on the first day of high school, Rachel and Peyton snuck into my room and brought like 6 alarms with them and set them all to wake up with my original alarm. They all went off at the same time and I swear I just jolted up in my bed" she says with a small chuckle. "so now every time I hear my alarm clock that memory just comes back to me and I have no problem waking up."

"is there any memory you have that _doesn't _include your friends?" I ask jokingly.

"none worth remembering" she says. "they just mean everything to me." She says referring to her friends.

"mm, do you know how sexy you sound when you talk like that?" I ask as I crane my neck to the side so I can kiss her lightly on the lips.

"no" she says in between kisses.

"oh, well then maybe I should show you" I say kissing her harder and longer this time. I feel her place a hand on my cheek to hold me closer, but before our kissing can get too far we find ourselves interrupted.

"hey you love birds" Peyton says as she and Rachel approach our picnic area.

"oh, not now" Brooke groans and I scoot a little bit away from her, knowing there's no need for Rachel and Peyton to see this.

"we were just going for a walk and were thinking that you might want to come along" Rachel says. Brooke about to say something back until Peyton cuts her off.

"and that's not a question" she says with a smirk. Well I guess our time is over.

"oh come on guys, can't we go later?" she asks, still with a firm grip around me.

"no way. You've been spending all your time with Haley this weekend. We just want to get some quality time in with you before we go back to school." Rachel says.

And I can tell, even with out looking at Brooke, that she feels guilty. Mainly because the grip on her hands slowly loosens.

"Look Hales…" Brooke starts.

"no, go" I say as I turn around to face her. "go have fun with your friends. I'll see you back at the cottage later right?"

"are you sure?"

"yeah, of course. I think I can live without you for a few hours" I say turning around to start cleaning up our food.

"okay well at least let me help you clean up and bring everything back" she offers, but I stop her.

"Brooke, just go. I'll be fine" I say with a genuine smile. "I'll clean up and I'll see you in a while"

"…okay" she says hesitantly.

"a little help?" I ask Rachel and Peyton and they quickly take Brooke by the hands and pull her to stand up and go for a walk. But before they get two steps away Brooke comes back over with Rachel and Peyton in tow.

"bye babe" she says quietly and gives me a light peck on the lips. I smile as I watch her turn around to walk away.

"bye babe" Rachel and Peyton say at the same time as they both kiss me on the cheek mockingly.

"ew." I groan as I wipe my cheeks. They all giggle and walk off. In the distance I can see Brooke with a smile on her face as she forces Peyton to give her a piggy back ride. Then I see Rachel try to jump on Brooke for a piggy back ride also, but they all fall to the floor in laughter.

They really are the best of friends.

……………

As soon as I make it back to the cottage I drop the basket and blanket off in the living room and look around for _my _friends.

"hello?" I call out into the eerily calm cottage. "Nate? Luke?" I yell. Okay, this is creepy. It's like all I need is a janitor with a creepy whistle to complete this horror movie set up. "guys?" I ask, getting a little scared now. Okay, a lot scared.

I walk into the kitchen, still no sign of the Scott brothers but what I do find is a note. With my name on it, so I decide to read it out loud.

"look in the cabinet above" I say out loud. Okay, what? I put the note down and open the cabinet doors above my head. What the hell is this? What does he expect me to do with this?

I take the water gun down from the cabinet and see it's already full of water.

"game on" I hear Luke's voice from behind me. I quickly turn around only to get sprayed by him and his water gun. I let out a shrill scream loud enough to burst anyone's ear drums.

"you're dead" I say as soon as he stops spraying. With a smirk he takes off to the other side of the room and before I can chase him I get sprayed from behind. I turn around only to see Nathan with his own water gun from behind the couch.

"gotchya" Nathan says with a smirk as he also takes off in Lucas' direction.

"yeah, you better run!" I yell to them as I pump my water gun and start chasing after them.

…………

"It's not fair!" I yell from behind a lawn chair as every few seconds I pop up to spray who ever I can. "there's two of you and only one of me"

"that's not our problem" Nathan says. Oh that's it. Out of nowhere I run out from behind the chair and tackle Nathan to the ground. I take the water gun from his hand and start spraying Luke.

"yoink!" Lucas says as he takes the second water gun from my hand and tosses it back to Nathan. I hate being such a small person.

"you guys suck" I yell as I continue to spray them.

"no we don't" Lucas says as he picks me up with one arm and throws me over the shoulder. "get the hose!" Luke yells to Nathan. Hose? Oh hell no. Plan, plan, I need a plan.

"hey is that Peyton in her bathing suit?" I ask and Lucas turns around and I take this opportunity to spray Nathan with my water gun, he drops the hose and Lucas turns back around to see Nathan, soaking wet.

"gotchya" I say as I do a little flip and fall to my feet behind Lucas. "sucker!" I yell as I run away from him and around the outside of the cottage. I see him and Nathan pick up their water guns and start chasing after me. As soon as I round the corner I see the elites back from their walk. Perfect situation.

"hey babe" Brooke says slightly confused as she sees me running away.

"hey Brooke" I yell as I run behind them. All of a sudden Lucas and Nathan pop out from around the corner spraying their guns like there's no tomorrow. And of course with out thinking they start spraying the elites, who of course all start screaming like crazy.

As soon as the Scotts realize who they're spraying they stop in fear. Yeah I'd be scared if I were them too.

"uh oh" Nathan says as he and Luke freeze in their spots.

"if I were you I'd run right about now" I practically sing from behind the three girls. Without hesitation they take off in the opposite direction with Rachel and Peyton chasing after them.

"hey you" I say to Brooke, seeing as she's still here. "you look all _wet_" I say slyly.

"does that _turn you on_?" she asks, taking a step closer.

"hm, maybe" I say with a small smile.

"really?"

"sure" I reply. "but just _one _thing" I emphasize"

"what's that?"

"I don't think you're wet enough" I whisper as I take a step back and start spraying her with my water gun. As soon as most of the waters gone I stop and I see Brooke now fully soaked from head to toe. "ah, much better"

I start to slowly walk backwards as I see her try to drain the water from her hair.

"well, see, now I'm thinking you're not wet _enough_" she says with a smirk as she slowly walks towards me. Maybe I should pick up my pace.

"is that so?"

"yeah, and we just can't have that now can we?"

"oh? And what are you going to do about it?"

"well you're about to find out" Brooke says as her fast paced walking quickly turns into a sprint. I turn around with a smile and take off praying that she doesn't catch me.

…………

The elites all somehow managed to steal our water guns away from us. So here we are, basically begging to get sprayed. We run around a little and manage to hide behind the shed for a few minutes.

"okay, we need a plan" Nathan says, peeking around the corner to make sure we're safe.

"okay, I'm think we just go fully frontal and attack them head on. Nate you cover Rachel and Haley you cover Brooke."

"oh I've already done that" I say with a smirk and I know Lucas just pretends like he didn't hear me. Nathan on the other hand practically stops time just so he can think about it. "never mine. Let's go" I whisper as we all head off in different direction but eventually all start running towards the elites. Nathan throws Rachel over his shoulder, while Lucas pulls Peyton to the ground, where as I push Brooke towards the side of the cottage for a little more… privacy.

"look who's wet now" Brooke says slyly as I push her against the wall and give her a little kiss.

"well I guess you're to blame for that" I say shaking my wet hair all over just to get her more wet.

"you look so beautiful" she says softly as she puts my wet hair behind my ears.

"I love…" should I say it? I don't know, maybe we're not ready. But it's like she's perfect. Maybe I should hold back, just for now. "…these water fights" I say with a small smile. She pauses and looks in my eyes for a second.

"yeah, me too" she agrees giving my another small kiss.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Sorry for the lateness, but to make up for it here is an extra long chapter... its like 4500 words. So enjoy. oh btw, there's only one chapter left after this one... but i think i feel a sequel coming on ;)**

After our cute little weekend up at Rachel's cottage it seems like everything been going great. Especially with me and Brooke. It's like we've never been closer, and it's amazing. But with all this amazing-ness, I can't help but feel something's going to get in the way. Tonight's the Halloween party and let me tell you I've got high hopes tonight with Brooke. And I'm not just talking sex. I think tonight will be the night that I tell her I love her. And yes, I realize this is a big step in our relationship, but I think I'm ready. I think we're both ready.

"so this is your last chance to tell me what you're costume is for tonight, tutor-girlfriend" Brooke says. Tonight's the night of the Halloween party down at Tric, everything's set up for Peyton and Lucas, but Brooke still won't stop bugging me about my costume. Much to her dismay Peyton and Rachel were able to keep their promises, though Peyton threatened to tell if we didn't tell her what was going on with Lucas tonight. It didn't work.

"nope, sorry, you're just going to have to find out like the rest of Tree Hill and did you just call me 'tutor-girlfriend'?"

"yes, you know you'll always be my tutor girl. No amount of complaining is going to get me to drop that nick name." she says with a smirk.

"fine… so are you picking me up tonight?"

"uh no, actually, the elites have to go early to help set up a little, so I called Luke and he said he would drive you"

"alright, I guess I'll see you later tonight then" I say as she heads for the door.

"that's _if _you recognize me" she quips and heads out the door, shutting it behind her.

………………

I'm putting the final touches on my costume and I have to say Peyton and Rachel did a fine job choosing it, but it's weird, because usually I would never be caught dead in this but it's for Brooke, and it's like I always feel the need to impress her.

And tonight, she _will_ be impressed. I can guarantee you that.

I hear a horn honk from down stairs. It must be Lucas. I grab my phone and some cash and head down stairs, this time managing to trip over my own feet. I think it's only Brooke who does that to me. I get outside and run to Luke's car seeing as it's freezing out. I open the door and hop in. But I don't hear anything, not even a hi, just silence. I turn to look at Luke, who's mouth is practically hanging open.

"okay, I know my costume is a little weird, but you don't have to stare at me like that" I say as I put my seat belt on. He closes his mouth, but still doesn't say anything. "oh come on Lucas, it's just a costume"

"what ever you say" he smirks and puts the car in gear. I look down at his costume and I think it was a really cute idea that we made Lucas and Peyton wear costumes that go together. I look him up and down and he has a very suave pinstripe suit and a matching hat, I can see his toy gun sticking out of his inside pocket and smile. They're going to make a cute couple.

We arrive at Tric within minutes and I see the huge line up going up the stairs and into the club. I follow Luke as we head up the stairs passed everyone. Lucas nods to the guy with the wrist bands as he puts one on Lucas and one on me.

We enter the club and I can already feel everyone's eyes all over me. I hate when people stare, it always makes me self conscious.

"come on, let's go find the elites" Lucas says over the music and we head towards the bar where Peyton's obviously playing her music from. I watch as Lucas walks up behind her and turns her around.

"hey there Bonnie" he says with a smirk.

"well how ya doin' Clyde?" she asks back as she flirts. Peyton's wearing a tight orange sweater with a black and white handkerchief hanging loosely around her neck with a beret to the side of her head. I personally think making these two Bonnie and Clyde was an awesome idea. We all know they're going to cause trouble in the future, it's perfect. She puts her arms on his shoulders and finally spots me.

"Hey, Hales, nice costume" she says with a smirk.

"thanks" I reply as I head towards the bartender. "hey Bar, what's a girl got to do to get some hard liquor around here?" I ask and my sister turns around to see me.

"perhaps wait a couple of years until she is old enough to actually drink" she replies pouring me a soda.

"nice costume" I say looking up at her normal clothes. Or should I say my clothes. She always steals them.

"thanks, going for the geeky little sister look" she replies. "nice costume to you by the way"

"thanks, I was inspired by your 12th grade yearbook photo" I reply with a smirk. She looks over the bar and looks my costume up and down.

"well my skirt was shorter, but nice try anyways" she replies and both of us laugh. "so uh, where's the girlfriend?" she asks.

"I was about to ask you the same thing" I say looking around to spot Brooke. I see Taylor's eyes flicker passed me and I smell that oh so familiar scent.

"excuse me Miss, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to arrest you" the person says. I turn around to see Brooke in a very _very_ sexy police officer uniform. She's wearing leather knee high boots, black fish net stockings, short black shorts, a tight blue dress shirt and of course the cop hat.

"on what account, officer?" I ask innocently, batting my eye lashes repeatedly.

"…for being so damn sexy" she says with a smirk as she leans in to kiss me.

"do you like it?" I ask slyly.

"a naughty school girl? How could I not" she answers as she looks at my costume up and down. I have the 4 inch stilettos on, with a plaid skirt, a white blouse tied around my stomach, with a lacy red bra underneath all topped off with a matching red tie.

"good, because I worked extra hard on it" I whisper into her ear.

"well then I think I should call you my naughty tutor girl instead" she smirks.

"Hey Brooke" Taylor almost sings.

"hey Taylor" Brooke almost sings back. Oh, she must have gotten the big sister talk. I'm about to confirm it when all of a sudden I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around to see…

"Mother Fucking Clown!" I yell as loud as possible and jump behind Brooke. Practically everyone's attention in the club is drawn to me as I quiver behind my girlfriend. The freaky ass clown takes off the mask and I realize its Rachel. She's laughing her ass off at me. "you bitch!" I yell making everyone else start laughing too. "I can't believe you told her!" I say slapping Brooke on the shoulder.

"Rachel!" she yells at her, but Rachel is still laughing. She turns back to me, still mad at Rachel. "I didn't think she would dress up as a clown to scare you" she says to me in an apologetic tone, but doesn't actually apologize.

"I can't believe you told her, you know I hate clowns, you should have known she would have done something like this." Brooke's about to say something when her eyes flicker behind me. I feel another tap on my shoulder and without thinking I turn around to see a much bigger clown.

"Jesus Fucking Clown!" I yell as loud as possible, again. I turn around to hit Brooke again and I see Rachel start laughing as hard as possible… again. I turn back to the clown who takes off the mask to reveal its Nathan.

"I hate you, _both_ of you" I say to Rachel and Nathan who can't stop laughing along with Lucas and Peyton. "and you" I say pointing to Brooke. "I'm never telling you anything again"

"thanks a lot, Rachel" Brooke says sarcastically.

"I just couldn't resist" Rachel replies through her laughter.

"I thought you were going as Wonder Woman" Brooke says to Rachel.

"oh I did" she says unzipping the clown costume and stepping out of it to reveal her spandex costume. "I just couldn't pass up an opportunity like that" she says and Brooke pushes her a little in my defence.

"come on" Brooke says pulling me over to one of the couches at the side of the club. She sits down and pulls me down on to her lap. I wrap one arm around her shoulder and pout. "come on baby, don't worry about the clowns. Look, I'll protect you tonight, I even have a fake baton, and a fake gun…" she says toying with the items around her belt. But I see something else, something shiny. I dig down a little and pull it out.

I give a small fake gasp and lift them up to show Brooke. "…and _real_ handcuffs"

"well… those are for later" she whispers into my ear. I lean down and press my lips to hers and make sure to keep them there for a while. I feel Brooke's hand hold me by my bare thigh as I wrap both of my arms around her neck to hold her closer. We finally pull back, neither of us really wanting to, but life has to carry on. "what was that for?" she asks.

"I never got my hello kiss tonight" I say.

"does that mean I get a kiss every time I say hello?" she asks.

"well I don't know, let's try."

"hello" she says and I lean down to kiss her on the cheek. "hello" she repeats and I kiss her on the nose. "hello" she whispers this time and I lean down to kiss her on the lips again. "I think I found my new favourite word" she mutters against my lips.

"good" I mutter back. "now come on, it's a party and I want to go dance" I say getting up off of her and pulling her towards our friends on the dance floor.

…

We're all dancing and having a good time when Brooke and I are interrupted by a girl walking in between us and knocking Brooke a little.

"watch it" the random girl snaps at Brooke. The elites just look at and smirk. It's not everyday someone acts like that to the elites. Well, at least not since the cheerleader incident.

"apology accepted" Brooke says loud enough for the girl to hear. The girls stops and turns back around with her followers close behind.

"do I know you? She asks.

"probably" Brooke answers. "everyone else does"

"wait… you're an 'elite', aren't you?" she asks, using finger quotes. God those things are annoying, but truth is, I love using them.

"yeah…"

"oh, It seems you and me have a problem... and it has to do with my boyfriend" the girl says.

"Rachel!" Brooke scolds her.

"what?" Rachel screeches out. "why do you automatically think it was me?"

"because I'm with Haley and Peyton's with Lucas... so that only leaves you."

"How many times do we have to tell you not to go after some other girl's boyfriend?" Peyton asks hypothetically making the rest of us laugh.

"what's your boyfriend's name?" Rachel asks, ignoring Peyton's question.

"Joseph" she answers.

"ha! see! I never slept with a guy named Joseph" Rachel argues. And the rest of us pause. Why does Joseph sound so familiar?

"no you idiot, Joseph - Joey Grewal" Peyton tries to show the connection to Rachel.

"ohhh" she answers stifling her laugh. This can't be good.

"yeah, so I just wanted to give you a personal thanks" she says to Brooke and dumps her drink over her head, onto Brooke's hat, down her face and onto her shirt. We can hear everyone in the room gasp and I'm a little afraid of what's going to happen. Because if this is Joey's girlfriend, I'm a little afraid of what else she is willing to do. As soon as the last drops of the beer are out of the cup Brooke looks up at her in anger.

"big mistake" Brooke says angrily as she punches the girl in the nose. She stumbles back onto one of her friends but she quickly gets back up.

"Brooke" I say trying to get her to stop. I don't want anything happening to her. Peyton and Rachel step through the crowd to stand beside Brooke. That actually looks pretty intimidating. But it's kind of hard to take them all serious when they're dressed up in slutty costumes.

"what, can't fight your own fights?" she asks, trying to scare off the other elites.

"fine, you and me then" she states. Rachel and Peyton step off to the side, watching the stranger very intently. What does she mean 'you and me'?

"Brooke, don't do this" I say, but she just ignores me. All of a sudden the girl Brooke punched, slaps her across the face and Brooke reacts right way by pushing her down on to the floor. The crowd opens up even more to make space for them as they fight.

"Brooke!" I yell at her, but she just continues to fight. They manage to grab a hold of each other's hair and all you can hear are the cries of pain and the cries of encouragement from the crowd. "do something" I say angrily to Peyton and Rachel. They both look at me with unemotional faces.

"we can't" Rachel answers and Peyton doesn't disagree.

"fine if you won't, I will" I say, Peyton tries to grab my arm to hold me back, but I shake her loose and head for Brooke and the girl. Where the hell is security?

I walk up to them and try to pull Brooke off. "Brooke, stop now!" I yell. She tightens her grip and I finally manage to pull Brooke off of her but as I'm pulling her away the girl gets one last kick in and kicks Brooke in the leg. Brooke tries to get back to her but I stop her.

"Brooke, back down!" I yell. She tries to fight her way out of my grip but I don't let her. I lead her away from the crowd and towards the back of the room. "what the hell Brooke?!"

"Haley, let me go!" she says trying to get back to the fight. "if I walk away now, everyone's going to think I backed down."

"no they won't!" I say, but Brooke won't look at me. I place my hand on her cheek and she doesn't look. I push it in my direction and I see the scratches on the side of her face. "god, Brooke, this is exactly what I didn't want to happen!"

"Haley, just let me go" she says impatiently as she pushes my arm away from her face.

"no, Brooke! I care about you too much to let you go back to this. Sometimes you just need to back down"

"I _can't_. You don't understand! This is who I am, this is what makes me, me. This is what I do and I can't just change that. I won't."

"Brooke, why can't _you _understand that you mean so much to me? Tonight's a few scratches and a slap across the face, but what about tomorrow, or the next day? How far will it have to go before you realize you can't always win by fighting?"

"I don't know" she says trying to get away.

"well I don't want to find out!" I say stopping her. "Brooke, _I love you_. Stop doing this" I whisper. For the first time ever, I tell Brooke how I really feel about her.

"Haley… I love you too" she says back to me and I suddenly feel so much better… so much happier. "but this is who I am" she says and walks back to the dance floor to find the girl. I chase after her and I see Brooke standing in an open circle by herself.

"where is she?" I hear Brooke asks.

"Security took her away when you ran away" a random person said from the crowd. I'd kick their ass if I knew who said it because I know Brooke isn't happy about that. _It's against the rules._ People start clearing back to the dance floor to continue their night and Brooke just starts heading towards the door.

"Brooke…" I say but she just pushes passed me, with eyes full of anger.

"don't" she threatens. "you say you love me but you just try to change me into something I'm not… you're just like _everyone_ else" she says and without another word walks away from me, and walks away from us.

I walk back over to Lucas to try and get a ride home, but instead I only find Rachel.

"why did you do that Haley?" she asks angrily. Is she seriously asking me that question?

"not now Rachel" I say looking for Lucas.

"yes now!" she replies angrily. "you knew Brooke lives by those rules, you knew, yet you still made her break them"

"I was protecting her!"

"from what? Being who she is? You can't change a person like that, especially Brooke"

"what does that even mean?!"

"it means Brooke stands by those rules for a reason…"

"yeah, she stands by them for a reason, that reason being she doesn't show who she really is and she doesn't let people in because they have hurt her in the past! But what about me? I care for her too much to let her get hurt like that!"

"well right now, stopping her from respecting those rules is hurting her, because she doesn't know any other way to be." Rachel says as she starts to talk away. "oh, by the way, Lucas is gone, he took Peyton home" she says and leaves, herself. I sigh to myself and walk over to the bar. I guess I'm walking.

"I'm going home Tay, I'll see you later?"

"where's Brooke?" she asks.

"she already went home. I'm going to walk" I say quickly, hoping she won't say anything.

"wait" she calls out and I stop before I can get two steps. "did something happen between you two?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"did it have something to do with that fight?" how does she know _everything_?

"look Tay, I'm really tired I'm going home."

"Alright, well take a cab, I don't want you walking home like that. You're practically begging to get attacked" I look down and realize I'm still in my naughty school girl costume. Maybe I will take a cab.

…

As soon as I get home I take off my heels, skirt and shirt then take my time to take my make up off. Without even putting clothes back on to sleep in I fall asleep half naked. I guess Brooke is rubbing off on me. I crawl into my bed and for the first time in a long time… I cry.

Just a few tears, but still, never the less it's crying. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped Brooke, she's strong, but I couldn't just stand there and watch someone beat my girlfriend. It just doesn't work like that. I fall asleep with my tears staining my pillow, not caring about anything anymore. Just Brooke.

I'm awoken in the middle of the night by a mysterious figure, trying to wake me up.

"Brooke?" wait, it can't be Brooke, she wouldn't wake me on purpose, she'd just try to get into bed with me.

"Haley, wake up" Taylor's voice says. I open my eyes a little wider to see Taylor leaning over my bed.

"what?"

"come down stairs, Peyton and Rachel are here" she says exiting my room. I sit up in my bed and look at the clock. It's like 2:15 in the morning. What the hell is wrong with these people? I get out of my bed and throw on my bath robe and head down stairs to find two very worried girls and Nathan and Lucas.

"what's wrong? Where's Brooke?" I ask quickly. When ever these two are here it's always about Brooke.

"we don't know. We were kind of hoping she'd be here" Peyton says.

"no, I haven't seen her since she left the club" I say, something's wrong then.

"when ever she has a problem and runs she always calls us" Rachel points out. They both have their cell phones in their hands, ready to answer a call at any second.

"did you go looking for her?" I ask as I sit on the couch beside Taylor.

"yeah, we checked our houses and hers, we checked Tric, and the carnival, but no one's seen her. Are you sure you haven't seen her?" Peyton asks.

"yeah, I'm pretty sure" unless she was in my dreams. "so what are you doing _here_? Brooke's mad at me"

"yeah, but we've noticed lately, when ever she has a problem she usually comes here" Rachel says. Hell, Brooke comes here when she _doesn't_ have a problem.

"well you guys are welcome to wait here as long as you want" I say.

"coffee, anyone?" Taylor asks as she heads for the kitchen. Rachel, Peyton and I all say yes, but Lucas and Nathan decline. They've been surprisingly quiet. But then again, Nathan's only here because Lucas is here and Lucas is only here because Peyton's here.

…

We've spent the last hour just sitting here in my living room. Brooke's really starting to worry me. When ever there is a problem in her life she always goes to someone. It doesn't matter who it is but she always goes to _someone_.

I don't think I've ever seen Peyton and Rachel more distraught. I don't think Brooke has ever been missing this long. I mean we left Tric like 5 hours ago. Lucas, Nathan, Peyton and Rachel all put their cell phones on the coffee table in the middle of us so we could all stare at them. It wasn't their intention, but we just can't help but watch them intently, like they're going to do a magic trick or something.

But then I realize something, she might call my cell phone. "hey, I'm going to get my phone and bring it down" I say running upstairs. No one answers, they just nod in response.

I go up stairs and head straight to my room, trying to remember where I put my phone. I open the door and the lights are off, but I see someone sitting on my bed.

"Brooke?" I ask walking closer to make sure it's her. She's got her phone in her hands and is looking down at it, barely acknowledging I'm here. "we've been worried sick about you" I say sitting down beside her, but she shows no affection.

"I didn't know where else to go" she laughs slightly. "it seems everyone I know is here" she knows everyone's down stairs because she probably saw their cars outside.

"how long have you been here?"

"half an hour?" she guesses.

"why didn't you come down stairs?"

"because I just wanted to talk to you" she says unemotionally.

"you could have called" I offer. She hits a button on her phone and my phone from my purse starts ringing quietly. "you could have called the home phone"

"so that everyone could hear us? I don't think so" she's right, I guess.

"okay, well I'm here now. Let's talk…" I don't really want to have this conversation, but we're going to.

"why'd you do it Haley?" she asks finally looking me in the eyes. And I know what she's talking about.

"I wasn't going to stand there and watch you fight with some other girl"

"why?" she asks getting angry.

"because I'm your girlfriend!" I say getting angry, back.

"then you, of all people should know not to stop me. Everyone thinks that I backed down from the fight"

"_I_ don't!"

"that's cause you're the one who pulled me away"

"and I'd do it again if I had to… I don't want you to get hurt."

"you should have just let me fight" she sneers. "it's what I do"

"well, I don't think you should do that anymore" I say calmly.

"well that's not up to you" Brooke says mimicking my tone.

"as your girlfriend I think I should get a say in whether or not you get hurt!"

"don't play the girlfriend card with me" she threatens.

"why not? It's true. I'm your girlfriend and I don't want you to fight. If you saw me in a fight with some other girl, what would you do?"

"I'd kick her ass!" she says as if it's actually going to happen in the future. Yeah right.

"what if I told you to stay out of it and let me fight her by myself?" I ask.

"I'd let you, if it's what you believed in" she says quietly.

"Brooke, you cannot honestly say that fighting is the best way to solve everything"

"no, but it's the way _I_ solve everything."

"then change that! Because I can't just stand there on the side lines, as your girlfriend, watching you get hurt. Because it hurts _me_ too much"

"_I'm sorry…_ but I'm not going to change what I believe in" she says apologizing. She's actually apologizing. Rule number three has officially been broken. Too bad it means absolutely _nothing_ at this point.

"then I'm sorry too… because if you keep fighting, then I can't be your girlfriend."

**Okay, i know you might hate me right now, but... too bad. lol**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**Well, here it is… the last chapter.**

Brooke left after I told her I couldn't be her girlfriend if she kept fighting. She didn't say anything, didn't do anything to show me she loved me or anything, she just left out the window she came in. I head down stairs, no phone in hand, no need.

Just as I enter the living room Rachel and Peyton's phone start to vibrate on the table. The eagerly pick it up and it's obvious they have a text message from Brooke.

"come over to my house. No Haley" Peyton reads out loud. Well isn't that just nice. They all look at me and Rachel and Peyton start heading for the door. Lucas and Nathan debate between staying with me and following but decide to stay instead.

"she was here, wasn't she?" Taylor asks. I just look at her but don't give her an answer. My silence giving the answer instead. I take a seat on the couch between Nathan and Lucas and sink in between them. Lucas wraps an arm around my shoulder and Nathan puts a comforting hand on my knee.

Did I really just break up with Brooke?

……………………

Taylor put a blanket on top of us a couple of hours ago thinking we all fell asleep. The truth is Lucas and Nathan fell asleep beside me, but I couldn't. Not with Brooke on my mind.

I didn't want to go all the way upstairs to get my phone, and risk waking up the snoring brothers, so I leaned forward a little and grabbed Luke's phone off the table. I opened it up and decided to send Peyton a text message.

_I kno u kno what happened, whats the verdict? –Haley _

Within a couple of minutes I get a text back from her.

**Not looking good **she sends back. I fall back into the couch with his phone still in hand.

_What should I do?_ I send back. If someone had told me a few weeks ago when I moved here I'd be in this situation I'd laugh in their face.

**Nthing right now. Me&R will figure it out **she texts back. I guess it's up to her and Rachel then.

When Lucas and Nathan woke up I sent them home to get some proper sleep. I didn't want them to see me like this. You know, heart broken and sleepless eyes. The only person allowed to see me like that is Taylor, and that's only because I have no choice but to let her see me like that. She sat down beside me and just let me cry on her shoulder. This Taylor is different from the Taylor I grew up with. But I think I like this Taylor.

"I told her I didn't want to be her girlfriend if she kept fighting…" I say to Taylor randomly. "I couldn't just watch her get hurt"

"good for you Haley. You did the right thing, whether or not she wants to believe it."

"it's one of her rules, you know? She has 3 rules: never turn your back on your friends, never back down and never apologize. All three of them_ live_ by those rules" I tell her.

"well it sounds like those rules were written by three girls who haven't been able to keep a boyfriend or girlfriend. If it's not you who changes it, it's going to be Peyton and Lucas, or Rachel and whoever."

"you think so?"

"Haley, if she really loves you she's going to have to break those rules sometime. And I guess that time has come"

"what if she chooses the rules over me?" that's the one question that's been burning in my mind since I last talked to Brooke.

"then she's an idiot for letting a girl like you go"

…

Taylor decided to go out a while ago to buy some food for our empty fridge, so I took this opportunity to do my weekly cleaning. I turned up some music to drown out my thoughts and just started cleaning. But since the music was so loud I couldn't hear anything else. So when I turned around to start cleaning up the living room I found Rachel and Peyton standing right in front of me.

"holy crap!" I yell as nearly trip over myself. Rachel walks over to the stereo and turns it off and all of a sudden it's like the silence is so piercing.

"we need to talk" Rachel says seriously. I can tell they hate me again. They take a seat on the couch and I take a seat on the one across from them.

"how is she?" wow that sounded so cliché.

"_how is she?"_ Rachel repeats angrily. "Haley, you gave her an ultimatum and now she's a mess!"

"well that's not my problem" I yell angrily.

"yes it is! You're her girlfriend!" Peyton yells at me this time.

"not if she keeps fighting. You tell her if she fights she loses me!"

"why do you have to make her choose?! Why can't you just accept that she fights? It's what we do" Peyton says.

"because I love her too much to let her do that to herself"

"we love her too, but we know it's what's right!" Rachel adds.

"that's because you all live by those god damn rules! Fighting is one of the stupidest things to do, but I let it go when you were all in it. But when Brooke's alone, there is no one there to protect her. I refuse to let Brooke continuously hurt herself. I don't care if it is a rule and I don't care how much you argue with me."

"you don't get it. If Brooke break's this rule it breaks the elites. If people think the elites are broken they start picking their battles and realize we are nothing more than just three girls who are just as afraid as everyone else. You have to realize Brooke isn't just thinking about _herself _and _her_ reputation. She's thinking about all three of us!"

"than all three of you should protect each other when there is a fight! You say you're all such good friends but a good friend would not let another friend get hurt. That's _my_ rule!" I'm not quite sure why, but I'm crying. It could be out of anger or sadness, I don't know why… but I just am. I can see the elite's faces soften at my tears and it makes me feel weak. "…did she tell you she apologized to me?" I ask through the tears.

"yeah" Peyton answers. "congratulations Haley, you're the only person to ever make an elite break all three rules" and somehow that doesn't make me feel better.

"…I wasn't the one who made her turn her back on her friends" I clarify.

"Haley, Brooke turned her back on us when she first met you. I know it, Rachel knows it. We all know it. But it's alright, because at the risk of turning her back on her friends she fell in love… She fell in love with _you_" Peyton tells me.

"but apparently she doesn't love me enough to stop fighting" I mutter angrily.

"Haley…" Rachel starts, but I don't want to hear anything else.

"get out" I say angrily, but not yelling. Not yet at least. They start heading for the door, not turning back.

"Haley, the only reason we came here was to get you to change your mind about this whole ultimatum thing, because as Brooke's friends… we know what she's going to choose" Peyton says and closes the door behind them.

What the hell does that mean?

…

It's Monday now and I haven't heard from Brooke since I found her in my room and that's was Friday, well, technically Saturday morning. I haven't bothered to go see her and she hasn't bothered to see me because I guess we're both mad at each other.

I'm walking to school and I can already see their cars all in front of the school. So I know they're here today. I hear a horn honk from behind me and I see Lucas wave at me and pull into a random spot. I wait for him where I am and he catches up to me.

"Hey Hales"

"hey Luke"

"any advancements in your situation?" he sounds so scientific.

"nope" I say with bitterness in my voice. "Luke, can I ask you something?"

"what?"

"you're dating Peyton now right?"

"yeah, sort of" they must be in that awkward dating but not girlfriend/boyfriend stage yet. Been there done that.

"so then what's your opinion on their fighting rule?"

"uh… I don't know. I obviously don't like the idea of her fighting, but if it's important to her and her identity, then I guess I can't really do anything to stop her"

"am I crazy for trying to stop Brooke from doing this?"

"no. I don't think so… But everyone else does"

"so I've noticed" I say as we both stop and catch sight of the elites sitting at their table before classes start. "I just don't get this whole fight thing."

"to them, backing down means losing their dignity, and truthfully, they know dignity is the only thing they have left" Lucas says. And it's at this point I realize something.

I leave Luke's side and head over to the table, weaving in and out of people. I walk up to the table and drop my bag on the ground. All three girls look up at me and immediately start frowning. This is it. This is how I'm going to settle this once and for all.

"what?" Brooke asks, still angry, but obviously hurt.

"I've got a problem with you" I say leaning over on the table.

"Walk away Haley…" Peyton is quick to say.

"why?" I ask backing away from the table. "come on Brooke!" I yell. "you and me, right here!" I say, refraining from saying 'right now' after it. Can't get too cliché now can we? A small crowd starts forming around us and all eyes are looking. Too bad I feel like my life is a cliché.

"are you serious?" she asks me. "I'm not fighting you"

Here we go. "or what? You're going to _back down_ from me?" I say loud enough for everyone to hear and now the crowds getting bigger.

"stop it Haley"

"why? Afraid of a little fight?" I ask. I see Brooke get up with Rachel and Peyton on either side of her, ready to fight. "oh come on now, you don't need your friends to fight me. Just me and you Brooke. One on one"

"Haley, quit it" she says walking closer to me.

"or what?" I ask giving her a little push on the shoulders.

"stop it Haley! I'm not going to fight you!"

"fight me, or back down" I say angrily. It's the only way to stop this thing.

"don't give me that option, because you're _not _going to like my answer" she says through gritted teeth. I stare at her for a moment and I watch as she turns back around to go back to what she was doing. Out of nowhere I walk up behind her and push her harder. She almost falls down but I see her freeze and turn back around in anger.

"coward" I yell and an 'oooh' breaks out from the crowd.

"you know I'm not afraid to fight" she argues me.

"then fight me" I say stretching a little to make it look like I'm going to fight. God I hope this works out.

"no!" she fully yells at me.

"Brooke, you know I love you, but I need to make a point it's either me or fighting. And if you choose to fight, you hurt me, in more ways than one. So your choice is to love me or to fight me, it's up to you"

"I'm not going to fight you" she repeats.

"then back down"

"you know I can't!"

"then I guess we fight" I say pushing her again and this time she actually pushes me back. Time to bring out the big guns. I take a deep breath and slap her across the face. Okay, I actually feel pretty bad for that, but I needed to do it. She looks at me in complete shock, but doesn't move. Not yet.

"it's not too late to back" down I practically sing, and it must have set something off because this time Brooke takes a step towards me and instead of slapping me, she fully punches me in the mouth. God, that really did hurt. I feel the tears sting my eyes but don't give them the satisfaction of falling. I can taste the blood in my mouth and I bring my hand to my lips to prove it right. I'm still slightly amazed that Brooke has the ability to even hurt the people she loves most.

"Haley are you okay?" Lucas asks approaching me. He lifts my head to examine my mouth. I look over at Brooke and I can tell that she wants to be the one consoling me, not Lucas. She wants to be the one standing by my side, fighting for me. Not against me. I shake Lucas off and throw a punch in Brooke direction, missing her completely, but somehow falling on her and both of us fall to the floor, wrestling on the ground.

I've never been in a fight with anyone. I never really planned to either, especially with a girl that I love.

"why do you have to do this?" she mutters try to fight back against me, and I take a moment to answer her. Because right now, my words mean everything.

"…because I need to prove to you that if you fight, you lose me all in one shot, but if you back down I'll be there for you" I mutter back somehow.

"I told you, if I back down, I lose _everything_" she says angrily trying to conceal her crying, as she continues to wrestle with me. I push myself away from her and stand up, Brooke quickly following.

"you'll lose everything?!" I ask hypothetically. "You know that's not true, Brooke! If you back down right now, you'll still have your family, you'll still have your friends… and you'll still have _me_! If you fight, that's when you'll really have _nothing_." I can see the tears coming down her face and it pains me to know that I'm the one causing them.

"but the rules..."

"-fuck the rules!" I yell and I'm surprised at my own vulgarity.

Brooke looks back to her friends who are almost crying with her and looks around at all the people eagerly waiting her answer. And of course she finally looks back to me. Just standing there.

"so what's it going to be, Brooke… fight me or love me?" I ask, my voice starting to crack from the amount of emotion flowing through my body right now. This has to work out. I need this to work out. Because truthfully I need Brooke just as much as she needs me. I need to feel happy because right now in my life, it seems she's the only one who can truly make me smile whenever I'm around her. It's scary knowing that she can do that to me whenever she's around, but what's even scarier… is not having that feeling.

"alright…" she whispers.

"alright _what_?" I ask, now I start crying. This is what determines it all. This is either where my life comes together, or this is where the shit hits the fan.

"… I choose love" she whispers with the slightest smile on her face. I let the tears fall from my face as I walk towards her and all in one swift movement I wrap my arms around her and bring her down to that simple mind blowing kiss. That's all I ever wanted.

……………

As soon as class started everyone left. Everyone but Rachel, Nathan, Lucas, Peyton and the love of my life. We all stayed outside and sat at a table.

"jeez Haley, did you have to hit me so hard?" Brooke asks jokingly as she rubs her red face. I really did feel bad about doing that.

"says the person who punched me in the jaw" I counter.

"I'm so sorry about that, I don't know what I was thinking" she says examining my mouth to make sure I'm okay. "does it hurt?"

"a little"

"want me to kiss it better?" she asks with a smile. I nod and she leans in closer to kiss my lips better.

"…hate to break the moment, but what do we do now? I think it's pretty much safe to say all of the rules have been thrown out the window" Peyton says.

"I think a new set of rules are in order for the elites" Rachel says.

"oh okay, I got this one" Brooke says as she holds me closely in her lap. "number one: _always_ be there for your friends, and number two: _always_ be exactly who you are…" wait a second.

"Brooke, that's only two rules." I mean I know she's not that great in math, but still.

"I know… the last one's just special and deserves its own moment" she says with a smirk.

"oh, and what is this last rule?" I ask curiously.

"…_always_ keep a place for Haley James in my heart" she says looking into my eyes with love. Everything's silent and I love this moment.

"…well _I_ like it" Lucas finally breaks the silence.

"yeah me too" Rachel says. "Well, except for the last one… that one can be just for Brooke" she says making everyone laugh. As the others continue to laugh I can't help but look straight into Brooke's eyes as she looks into mine.

"I'm going to love you forever Brooke Davis" I whisper softly, but with as much passion that I have as the others continue to talk around us.

"I'm going to love you forever too, Haley James. That's just the way it is" she whispers back. And that's just the way it should be.

When I first came to Tree Hill High I never expected to find such great friends, or to fall in love, but sometimes we all get surprised. Somehow I managed to fall in love with the one girl who seemed like she was in a glass case, placed high on a pedestal for all to see. And for the longest time… _she was_. Brooke and the other elites had three rules. And one by one they were all broken. Now I can't say I didn't aid in the breaking of these rules, because that would just be a lie. But I know deep down she loves me and I love her. Some people might think I changed Brooke. They might think I turned her into something that is just completely not her. But the truth is I didn't turn Brooke into anything, she changed herself. But she changed into the person who she really is. A person who she was afraid to be all along.

And it turns out… I'm in love with that girl.

THE END.

**Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I guess the elites story has finally come to an end, but have no fear, for a sequel shall be coming your way very soon. Listen to me… I sound like a fortune cookie. Lol. Okay, so if you liked the story leave the love, if not, don't read my sequel.**

**-GraydonGirl**


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note

Author's Note

Hey everybody, so if you liked this story you're probably going to like the sequel to it, which has now been posted. So keep your eyes peeled for The Elites: 2. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

-GraydonGirl


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